As The Years Go By
by ASociallyAwkwardDuckling
Summary: How long will you wait for your soulmate?
1. One Step At A Time

Valentine's Day in Republic city was unbearable. Everywhere you looked shops were advertising 'The Perfect Gift for Your Soulmate' and 'The Only Way to Celebrate Finding Your Forever'. It drove Korra crazy every year it came around seeing everyone's happiness broadcasted for the world to see while she was alone and sad and bitter. She normally avoided these shops like the plague but sometimes even Korra had to break her own vows. Especially when her family asked her for help and Korra was nothing if not loyal.

"Are you sure you need me here?" Korra asked as they entered the small shop the reeked of something much too sweet to be chocolate. "I mean this place smells like diabetes." Korra then noticed a stuffed animal that was a mix of a bunch of different animals with the head of an elephant, the tail and the front paws and stripes of a tiger, and the back paws and tail of a monkey. She pointed to the stuffed thing and added, "And I'm pretty sure Kai doesn't need whatever that is."

"Korra!?" Jinora cried turning a shocked look on her face that only made Korra laugh.

"Don't worry too much little lady. That's the eighth time I've heard that today." Korra looked at the older gentleman who had emerged from the back. He looked like a was in his late fifties with greying hair and a pair of glasses low on his nose. Korra almost envied him.

Jinora bowed her head, "I'm sorry. Old age has made my friend kind of an asshole." The man laughed and Jinora smiled as she stood up straight.

"What can I get for you?" Jinora stepped forward while Korra picked up the strange stuffed thing off the shelf turning it over in her hands.

"I want to get a gift for this boy I like. I don't know if he's my soulmate but..." The unsureness in Jinora's voice caused anger to swell in Korra's chest. What kind of society made people ashamed to love someone just because they you weren't "Meant to be"? Why was it seen as wrong to love someone different from who was supposed to be your forever? Korra tightened her grip on the strange animal fixing the older man with a glare. Korra wasn't exactly subtle about how she felt about the whole soulmate thing but then again she wasn't exactly subtle about how she felt a lot of things.

She watched as the man smiled down at Jinora, "A sale is a sale." Korra watched as they talked and the fourteen-year-old began to relax. It wasn't long before Korra was being asked to bring her wallet up to the counter. She set the stuffed creature of indeterminate species on the counter next to a box of chocolate and then pulled out her wallet.

"How much for the chocolate and this..." Korra gestured to the stuffed animal, "Thing?"

"You're getting it?" Jinora asked looking up at Korra, confused. Korra just shrugged.

"It'll be $20.89." The man said and Korra let out a sigh as she removed the money from her wallet. She watched the shop worker bag the box of chocolate and the stuffed creature into a red paper bag. He handed them their bags and Korra didn't even bother to thank the man before exiting the sickly sweet shop.

Once outside Korra took a deep breath of the Republic City air that smell more like smog then sweets but Korra preferred it that way. The sound of the bell from the door caused Korra to look and see Jinora standing in the doorway bowing, "Thank you." She turned to Korra smiling, "We can go now."

Korra threw her head back letting out an exaggerated sigh, "Finally." Jinora laughed as they made their way down the street falling into a comfortable silence.

"Why'd you get the thing?" Jinora asked as they came to a stop at a crosswalk, "You made your thoughts on it pretty obvious."

"It's a gift for your brother," Korra said as she pressed the crosswalk button.

"Which one?" Jinora asked just as the crosswalk signal turned and traffic stopped. The pair began crossing the street.

"The one that can talk," Korra responded and Jinora nodded as they stepped up onto the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road.

"Meelo will love it." They went back to walking in silence and Korra was happy that she didn't have to have to make small talk. If Korra was asked who her favorite of Tenzin's children were, she wouldn't hesitate to say she favored Jinora. She, of course, liked all of them but she liked Jinora just a little bit more than his younger children. She found her mature nature more tolerable than the childishness of Meelo or the Bubblyness of Ikki. Jinora was understanding for her age. Perhaps that came from her having mastered Airbending at such a young age and her connection to the spirit world something that she and Korra had in common. You don't live as long as Korra without gaining some kind of enlightenment. "Do you know where Kai is today?"

Korra took a moment to think before responding, "I'm pretty sure I asked him to come lead the afternoon meditation session while I teach a Waterbending class."

"So he'll be at the Dojo?" The excitement in Jinora's voice made the little white lie worth it. She could get Kai down to the Dojo in time easy.

"Yeah. You wanna come wait for him?" She nodded and Korra smiled, "Then come on. I have a class to teach."

Korra moved her foot to step forward only to be stopped by Jinora as she wrapped her arms around her waist burying her face in Korra's stomach, "Thank you." Korra stiffened at the contact before hesitantly patting Jinora on they head.

"No need to thank me. You know I'd do anything for my favorite Great-Grandniece." Korra joked and Jinora laughed into Korra's shirt.

"Don't make this weird," Jinora mumbled and Korra chuckled as she awkwardly pat Jinora on the back. She pulled away wiping her eyes, "You shouldn't play favorites. You know you mean the world to Ikki and Meelo."

Korra just shrugged and started walking again Jinora keeping pace with her as they continued the rest of the walk to the dojo in silence.

Once they had arrived Korra excused herself and went into the back room to make a much-needed phone call. It wasn't hard to convince Kai to come down to Dojo to help with the meditation. All she had to do what mention that Jinora wanted to see him and he promised that he would be there before lunch. It was pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that Kai had feelings for Jinora as well but love could make you blind and neither person seemed to want to get their hopes up. Korra could understand that stance.

Korra hung up and made her way back toward the front of the Dojo where Jinora had taken a seat on of the benches. "I have a class in," Korra quickly glanced at the clock on the wall, "Ten minutes. You can hang out here or you can go sit in the back room while you wait. Whatever you want."

Jinora stood up still clutching the bag to her chest, "Can I sit in on your lesson?"

"Of course." Korra lead Jinora to one of the practice rooms the light coming in from the large windows replaced the use of light. Korra began setting up while Jinora sat down looking down nervously at the bag in her lap. Soon her students were filing into the room chatting happily amongst themselves. They varied in ages from children to young teenagers but all of them were amateur Waterbenders. Clapping her hands together to get the chattering students attention, "Alright how many of you practiced the forms we learned last time?" No one raised their hands. Korra shook her head and let out a sigh, "Really? We're never gonna get past the basic forms if you don't practice."

One of the students, A 12-year-old named Hana, raised her hand and said, "My mom said that I only need to learn the basics."

Korra fixed Hana with a seething look that she had mastered over the years, "And is your mother a Waterbending Master?"

"No, but-"

"But nothing. I am the master and your mother is paying me to teach you how to use your gift and I plan to do so." Korra said as turned and bent the water out of one of the ceramic pots around the room.

"It's not a gift," Hana mumbled and Korra decided to ignore that comment instead bending the water.

"We'll be starting off easy enough. I'll bend this to Hana who will bend it to Hiro and so on. We'll do this for the first 15 minutes as punishment for not practicing the techniques I taught you last week." The groans that filled the room caused Korra to smirk, "You should have practiced." The game of pass the water was going well until some students began whining that their arms hurt. "If you practiced at home your arms wouldn't hurt right now." Korra chided as she passed the water back to Hana and the cycle began again.

The sound of the door the training room caused Korra to look up and see Kai standing there looking frazzled. Korra looked at Jinora nodding for her to go. Korra watched as she stood up and walked over to Kai leading him out of the door and into the front of the dojo.

Korra envied them. So young so full of hope. Korra let out a sigh and returned to teaching the class.

* * *

Valentines Day in Republic City always filled Asami with hope. Seeing all these people who had found their soulmates made her hopeful that someday she would meet the person who would be her forever. The large metropolitan city was a hub of technological and industrial innovation most of which was being led by one company. Future Industries and Asami was its CEO leading the company into the modern era of technology.

Walking through downtown during the season of love could sometimes be painful but Asami couldn't help but be happy for those who had managed to find the person that they were meant for.

Although there was one thing she didn't like about Valentines Day and that was the gifts. As she entered her office for the day she found every available surface covered in everything from bouquets of flowers and boxes of chocolate to stuffed animals and jewelry. Letting out a sigh she navigated around the gigantic Platypus Bear holding a heart the read, "I bear my heart out to you" and took a seat.

She dialed her secretary, a woman in her thirties by the name of Li Yu, who picked up after the second ring, "Yes Miss Sato?" Li's voice came on over phone speaker.

"Can you let the cleaning staff know that I need them to stay late after they finish their regular rounds?" Asami asked already feeling guilty for asking.

There was a brief silence on the other end before Li spoke again, "Already?"

Asami let out a sigh nodding before remembering that she couldn't see and verbalized her response, "Yes and I'm sure it's just going to get worse."

The sound of Li shuffling something and the sound of keys being hit on her computer, "I've sent out an email to Denkai letting him know but by now I'm pretty sure he's come to expect it."

Asami let out a sigh rubbing her brows, "Yeah. I know." Asami hung up and turned her attention to the mountain of paperwork that she had left the day before. Asami had been right about the first batch not being the end as items kept getting brought into her office along with nervous messengers forced to stutter out romantic catchphrases under the glare of the annoyed CEO who was being kept from working. The rest of the day passed agonizingly slow and Asami took an extra hour on her lunch break just so she could avoid a few of the messengers and maybe get some work done on her laptop.

After her lunch break, the rest of the day passed much the same. Asami would almost start to get a groove going with the paperwork when there would be a knock at her door and one kind of messenger or another would stutter through the letter or company bi-line while Asami glared at them. The only good thing that had come out of it was when two messengers had arrived at the same time. Somehow she had convinced them that the only way to decide who would give their message first had been a game of Water-Earth-Fire-Air which ended up turning into a best of three. It had been amusing watching them so serious about such a childish game and had just about been the highlight of Asami's day.

After that, the day passed normally until it was time for the cleaning crew to make their rounds. There was a knock at the door and Asami looked up, "It's open." The door opened and in walked Denkai, a man in his late fifties who had worked on the cleaning staff of Future Industries for his entire life having been hired by her father after being fired by their competitor Varrick Global Industries.

He whistled tipping back his cap with his thumb, "Quite a haul this year, Miss Sato. Plannin' ta do the same as ya usually do?"

Asami stood up stretching her back out and her arms over her head, "Yep. The Charity Gala is next week and like always I'll be donating all this crap to those who actually need it." Asami didn't need a giant stuffed platypus bear but she was sure some little kid out there would love it. "Do you need help with this stuff?"

Denkai laughed and shook his head, "No, Miss Sato. Me an' the boys can handle it you head home and get some rest." Asami smiled at the older gentleman who, in all technicalities, she was older than him by about 12 years but she never really liked to think of the technicalities of being unaging, and began to collect her stuff.

"I really am sorry to keep you here so late on valentines day. I can't imagine how Yu feels about this." Asami said as she placed her laptop in her bag and was shocked when Denkai laughed.

"Yu understands my loyalty to the company and she works in one 'a those big department stores so valentine's day has never really worked for us." Asami nodded and noticing the smile on his face couldn't help but smile herself. She wanted something like this someday. A person who would understand her job and be willing to make concessions for it. That's who her soulmate would be.

"Don't stay too late. Okay, Denkai?" Denkai nodded tipping his hat at Asami as she exited her office making her way toward the elevator. Once she was in the elevator she collapsed against the back wall letting out a sigh.

Asami envied Denkai. He had found his soulmate and had starting aging alongside her. It had been 50 years and while she still held out hope it was beginning to get harder to be happy for others. The elevator dinged as it reached the first floor and she let out a sigh pushing herself up off the wall. Asami really hoped she'll meet her soulmate soon.


	2. The Spirit of Charity

Korra stepped onto Air Temple Island quickly tying the small skiff to the dock before heading further inland. The small island acted both as the home for the last known family of Airbender's as well as a place to keep Airbender tradition and culture alive. It also happened to be Korra's current place of residence. She had been a friend of this family for as long as she could remember though saying that she was simply a friend seemed a little odd given that she had helped raised nearly every member of it.

The sound of a child's laughter was the only warning she got before the weight of a small child was thrown on her back causing Korra to stumble at the sudden added weight. "Come play airball with us!" Ikki practically yelled into her ear and Korra turned her head to see the 11-year-old grinning like a Cheshire cat owl. Korra shook her head, walking forward Ikki wrapping her arms around her neck and her legs around her waist. "Please? We need another player to have equal teams."

Korra placed her hands on the girl's thighs lifting her up and decided to take the long way toward the main building. Despite her admitted preference for Tenzin's oldest she did enjoy spending time with his younger children. In moderation of course. "You know I'm no good at airball."

Over the years Korra had meticulously made it seem as if she was terrible at both Airball and Biason Polo as well as any other game that she had been dragged into by Tenzin's children. Korra had done the same with Tenzin and his siblings and Tenzin's mother and uncle before them. It wasn't that she didn't want to play with them it was just that once you get to be Korra's age games of hide and seek can seem a little tedious and she found herself preferring quieter pastimes such as reading and Pai Sho. "Puh-lease Korra! We really need another player."

"Why don't you ask one of the acolytes?"

Ikki let out a dramatic sigh leaning back pushing against Korra's shoulders, "We already tried that! They all gave some kind of excuse about having to work or not having balance." Ikki collapsed back onto Korra's back and whined, "You're our only hope Korra."

Korra let out a sigh turning to look the air child in the eye, "Fine. I'll play a game of airball."

"Yay!" Ikki screeched into Korra's ear and jumped off using her back as a springboard to backflip to the ground.

"I'm too old for you to be doing that to me." Korra grumbled rubbing the spot on her back the preteen had launched off.

Ikki laughed causing Korra to turn and look at her with a quizzical look, "I've seen you wrestle uncle Bumi and win." Ikki placed her hands behind her back and began rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. The picture of innocence but Korra knew better.

"Yeah, but you should still respect your elders," Korra said letting a grin pull across her lips as she quickly scooped up the small air child who squealed at the motion. Korra tossed Ikki over her shoulder who began pounding at Korra's back, "After all, I have about a million embarrassing stories about you and your brother."

Ikki stopped pounding against Korra's back as she laughed, "What about Jinora?"

Korra smirked, "Jinora was smart and didn't give me much material to work with. So at best I have about a hundred embarrassing stories for her most of which are from when she was in diapers." Ikki let out a laugh as she easily escaped from Korra's grip with a small blast of air twisting her body in a way that Korra was pretty sure shouldn't be possible.

Ikki landed softly placing her hands behind her back and smiling up at Korra in a way that set her a little on edge, "So you're gonna play airball with us now, right?"

Korra nodded, "Sure. I'll play a game." Ikki's smile widened and Korra felt the need to reiterate what she had just said, "I will play a single game. As in one and no more after that. No matter how much you beg me to. Understood?" Ikki quickly nodded her head grabbing Korra by her wrist and began tugging at it.

' _She didn't understand at all.'_ Korra thought as she let the young Airbender lead her toward the airball court.

Airball had been one of the easier games to fake ineptitude at as it entailed standing on poles about fifteen feet up in the air and somehow getting a ball through one of the goals at either end. Korra had rather good balance and was pretty coordinated when compared to Airbenders or so she liked to think, which meant she should be relatively good at this game, which relied on the two traits. Korra, of course, had years of practice at throwing airball games that she barely had to try to get out within the first five minutes.

So as she climbed up onto one of the wooden poles she was already calculating just how long she would need to 'play' before it would be acceptable for her to be thrown out. The game started out with Ikki and Jinora in possession of the ball and Korra, on Meelo's team, were forced on the defensive. Korra was putting the minimum amount of effort need into her defensive stance with her knees bent slightly and her arms just barely raised in front of her. Ikki held the ball in her hand bending air through it causing it to spin rapidly. Korra watched as she threw the ball up and then delivered a well-timed kick sending it forward with a gust of air. The ball ricocheted through the poles heading toward Korra who prepared herself for the impact that would send her flying but it never came as Meelo quickly sucked the ball toward him and began spinning it on his finger. Meelo threw the ball sending it toward his sisters at a terrifying speed.

This continued on them scoring goal after goal and somehow managing to avoid hitting Korra. She was to think they had caught wind of her scheme to never play a full game of airball but Korra decided not to dwell on that thought. Jinora had the ball and it was spinning it in the palm of her hand. Korra locked eyes with her and silently mouthed, "Please."

Korra swore she saw a smirk on Jinora face as she threw the ball up in the air. Korra watched it come it down, Jinora jumping and doing a spinning kick and sending out a wave of air but instead of sending it ricocheting through poles, it went straight for Korra hitting her solidly in her stomach. Korra flew off the pole the air leaving her lungs as she landed on her back.

Fortunately, she landed on a large shrub and while she would probably bruise she was alive and would be able to walk away. Airball was definitely an Airbenders' game, not a Waterbenders'.

Korra was struggling to remove herself from the shrub's death grip when a shadow blocked out the sun and she looked up to see Tenzin standing over her. The Patriarch of the Air Nomads looked down at her with his ever-present serious expression and Korra wanted to laugh and tell him to smile but then she wasn't exactly one to talk. "We need to talk." That was never a good combination of words to hear from someone and it set Korra on edge. Korra managed to stand up and Tenzin turned around starting to walk toward the main building. Korra followed him, dragging her feet all the way.

Even as old as she was she still got nervous when she felt like she was in trouble.

* * *

The Yue banquet hall of the Raiko Hotel was one of the largest and most expensive in Republic City and Asami rented it out every year for a charity gala she hosted herself. The gala was held every year in the last week of February and people would donate items to be auctioned off. All money from the auctioned off items, as well as some Future Industry products, would be donated to various non-profit groups based on their needs. It was something she started back before she took over the company when she had more time on her hands and had refused to stop just because she became the CEO of a multi-billion yuan company.

And so that's how she ended up here on her day off yelling at the workers in an attempt to get everything ready as the days ticked by closer and closer to the date of the Gala. "No. No. No! Don't put that banner there put it over there! We want people to be able to see the stage."

"But-"

"No buts! Move it so it's over the entrance!" Asami yelled looking back down at her tablet and pinching the bridge of her nose letting out a frustrated noise.

Asami watched the work continue occasionally yelling out corrections and as the end of the day approached her throat was hoarse and she just wanted to go home sleep for a week but there was still so much work to do. They still had to set up most of the tables, put up the decorations, and hire the caterers. Though that last one should be easier than the rest since Asami had used the same catering service for the last 15 years and she was pretty sure they were more than reliable.

The day came to an end and Asami decided to head home, ready order a pizza and take a long relaxing bath. The drive home was spent on the phone with the caterers who, just as Asami had predicted, were more than willing to cater the event as they did every year and so with that out of the way she was able to focus on more important things. Such as making a good impression on councilman Tenzin who had finally found time to attend and what kind of pizza toppings she wanted.

She was thinking Pepperoni and Olives.


	3. The Night of The Gala

Korra wasn't sure why she agreed to this. It wasn't what she wanted to be doing on a Friday night. She'd much rather be in her room with leftovers watching a bad comedy on WebFlix but here she was at this stupid Gala that she had somehow been talked into being a part of. The only good thing that was coming out of this whole night was the food. There were long tables along the back and west side wall covered in food of all kinds from appealing appetizers to delectable desserts. Korra had taken to hovering by the table picking at whatever caught her eye and finding that nearly everything was delicious.

Korra was piling food on her plate when someone put their hand on her shoulder causing her to spin around, backing up into the table. She looked up to see Tenzin's wife, Pema, looking at her with concern on her face. Korra let out a sigh and looked down at her plate which was still miraculously covered in food. "Are you okay?" Pema asked and Korra nodded forcing her body to relax.

"Yeah. I just was caught off guard." Korra forced a smile and Pema returned it with a soft smile of her own. Anyone could tell Pema and Tenzin were meant for each other. Pema was kind and sweet and motherly. She balanced out Tenzin with is serious demeanor and gruff disposition. Korra knew Tenzin and Lin wouldn't work out when they had dated as children. Korra liked to think that she had a pretty good eye for when couples would end up being soulmates or if they could somehow make it work without being ones. Tenzin and Lin had just been two different when it came to their views on certain things and it had caused them to butt heads one too many times. Tenzin was understanding and more than willing to be flexible but Lin was bull-headed and stubbornly unwilling to budge on even the smallest things. Korra was still amazed Tenzin had the guts to break up with Lin at all given that Korra was still slightly scared of her mother, though she would never admit it aloud. The aftermath of said break up had been legendary. "Did you need something?"

Pema smiled softly at Korra. Korra loved that smile, so warm and motherly. It reminded Korra of her own long past mother. Thinking of her parents no longer made her sad but it still wasn't something she liked to dwell on. "Tenzin asked me to come get you. He said there's someone he'd like you to meet."

Korra swallowed. That wasn't something she liked hearing because meeting people usually lead to touching and Korra didn't like touching people. Most people went out of their way to touch others in an attempt to find out who their soulmate is but Korra wasn't most people. Korra had been like that once, so eager and hopeful to meet the person who would restart her aging, but as the years went by and she still was left unaging, those feelings faded. Only to be replaced with a sense bitter resignation at the cruelty of a world that had decided she didn't deserve a soulmate so many years ago.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Pema asked, concern evident in her voice. Korra looked up to see her brows furrowed slightly.

Korra let out a sigh, "I'm fine. I just don't like meeting new people." It wasn't so much that Korra was adverse to touching people. It was more that she was adverse to people in general. They put on airs in an attempt to impress only to quickly disappoint. Korra rarely made friends outside of Air Temple Island. It was just to easy to see through people and their so-called 'Acts of Friendship'.

Pema smiled and nodded toward the floor, "Shall we?" Korra nodded and followed the Air Matriarch through the crowd toward where she could see Tenzin talking to someone.

They came to a stop and Tenzin stopped talking, turning to look at Korra with a smile that made Korra think that he had something up his sleeves, "Korra, I'd like to introduce you to Asami Sato, head of Future Industries. She's also unaging." And there it was. Tenzin's ulterior motive for bringing Korra along. Korra glared up at Tenzin who simply turned to look at his wife.

One thing Korra hated more than meeting new people was being introduced to other unaging individuals with the hopes that they might be each other's soulmate. Korra had told Katara and Sokka she hated it. They'd understood, eventually. Aang had been easier to convince as he was all about understanding each other's differences and learning to accept them. She'd done the same with Tenzin and his siblings with varying degrees of success. If Korra was asked, Bumi was the worst blind set up offender while the other two understood and let Korra be. Except that Tenzin occasionally decided that Korra needed a little push in the right direction which, while a nice gesture, was wholly unappreciated.

"You must be Korra. Tenzin's told me so much about you." Asami said, extending her hand and Korra just stared at the outstretched appendage. This was exactly what Korra had been wanting to avoid.

Korra suddenly remembered the plate of food in her hand and was struck with an idea. She held it out in place of her hand, "Cream Puff?" Korra watched as a look of confusion crossed Asami's face as she tried to figure out what was happening. Korra moved her hand forward a little more, "You can have one."

Asami hesitantly took one, tilting her head slightly as she said, "Thanks?" She sounded unsure if she should be thankful or not but Korra wasn't too concerned with the CEO's feelings. She had managed to avoid a handshake and completely avoid a conversation altogether.

Korra turned to Tenzin, "Thanks for introducing me but I'm going to go now." She could see in Tenzin's expression that this outcome isn't what he had hoped would happen. Korra ignored it and turned to Pema smiling a knowing smile before turning to walk away.

The last thing Korra heard as she walked away was Pema saying, "I told you this would happen dear." followed by a heavy sigh.

"I know." Tenzin's words seemed to dissolve into the hum of the crowd leaving Korra with a nagging sense of guilt that she knew wouldn't go away for days.

* * *

Asami wasn't quite sure what to make of her encounter with Korra. It had been strange and while Asami prided herself on not judging people before she actually got to know them that conversation, or rather lack thereof, made it hard to draw conclusions that were probably false. Asami didn't know exactly what Councilman Tenzin had been trying to do but it was pretty obvious that it hadn't gone to according to plan and that it had upset him greatly. Asami excused herself from the company of the couple, not because of them, but because she still had to make the rounds with the rest of her guests.

The rest of the night went by much smoother and soon they were approaching the time when the auction would begin. Asami watched as people got their serving and took their seats finding her own after getting a small plate of food. The auction was Asami's favorite part of this event as she loved seeing just what people were willing to part with for the sake of charity. She always put someone else in charge of organizing the auction so that she could be surprised by what was being auctioned off. Asami watched as they wheeled out the first items, picking up one of the programs from the table she began to skim through it. She always bid on at least three items occasionally winning one if it was something she had to have. It was a bonus that the money went to a good cause.

Suddenly Asami's eyes caught sight of something that made her do a double take. There on the program printed in neat letters in the middle of the second page were the words, 'Private Waterbending Lesson with Master Korra'. Asami shook her head. It had to be a coincidence. There was no way that Korra was a Waterbending Master. Asami shook her head, there she went making assumptions about people she didn't even know based on a single interaction. But, then again, being a Bender in this day and age was so incredibly rare that it wouldn't be strange if Asami was right and Korra wasn't one, but then that meant it was somebody else also named Korra which opened a whole new bag of probabilities and statistics.

The sound of someone tapping on the mic on the stage ended Asami's train of thought and she looked up to see the auctioneer standing at the podium, "We'll begin with an item donated by Mayor Raiko himself." Asami watched them wheel out the item on a cart and once it was introduced, a painting worth a small fortune, bidding began. Soon the painting was sold off for a little under 30 thousand Yuans. The painting was wheeled off stage and the next one was wheeled on. The rest of the items went much the same with Asami occasionally placing a bet on an item that caught her attention that was until item 17 was announced. "Our next item was donated by Councilman Tenzin and is actually a service rather than an actual item." Asami leaned forward as a large metal basin was wheeled out, "The service we will be bidding for is a private lesson with Waterbending Master Korra." Asami watched as Korra walked onto the stage, no longer wearing the blue dress but what looked like Water Tribe garb. A blue tank top with a pair of baggy blue pants tucked into brown boots with some kind of fur wrap around her waist.

She came to a stop in the middle of the stage and the auctioneer moved off to the side. Asami watched as Korra moved the water rising into the air and splitting off into three separate hovering orbs. With a move of her arms, the water began moving around her body and Asami was entranced by the movements. Bending was such a rare gift that getting to seeing a bending master in action was something most people never got to do. Korra bent the water back together before she pushed her arms forward and the water flew over the crowd. She clenched her fists causing the water to freeze and then unclenched them causing the ice to turn into a powdery snow which she sent flying as far back as the last table. It drifted down and she bowed before stepping back.

Asami didn't know what to think other then she was even more curious about Korra now then she had been before. She wanted to get to know her and this private lesson was the perfect way to do that. "We'll begin the bidding at 500. Any Bids for 500?" Asami reached for her paddle throwing it into the air determined to win and get to know the Waterbender.


	4. Private Lessons

Korra hated the fact that she was up before noon on a saturday and that she had to make a house call. Korra didn't make house calls. She didn't make exceptions for any student no matter how much they paid or were willing to pay for lessons. If you wanted to learn to Bend you needed to put in the work and have the constitution for it but then again given the declining rate of benders being born maybe Korra should be a little less harsh with her views on certain things. Korra watched as the city blurred past the window of the car sent to pick her up at the dock. She would have prefered to walk but the car was there waiting when she arrived at the docks along with a man who somehow known who she was which was unnerving.

The car turning into a parking lot brought Korra out of her stupor and she watched as they approached a very tall, very fancy apartment complex The car came to a stop and her chauffeur stepped out opening Korra's door for her. Korra stepped out looking up at the apartment complex, though even that didn't seem to do the building justice, in a mixture of awe and confusion. Awe because Korra hadn't seen a house this fancy since she had visited Ba Sing Se and snuck into the upper ring. Confusion because just how rich was this person who had won the bid on Korra to be able to live here. Luckily Korra didn't have to wonder for long. "Miss Sato is waiting for you on the top floor." The Chauffeur said gesturing to the building and Korra looked up at the building craning her neck to try and see the top before letting out a sigh and heading toward the building.

The inside of the building was just as fancy as the outside if not more so with large stone columns along center and paintings along walls. Korra took in the lobby which made her feel out of place. "Can I help you?" The unsure voice brought Korra back to reality and she turned to look at the young man who Korra guessed had recently turned 18.

"I'm, uh," Korra gestured vaguely to the end of the lobby, "Here to see Miss Sato." Recognition flashed across the kids features and Korra watched him switch gears.

"Oh. Miss Sato told me she was expecting someone today." He walked around the desk and picked up a phone dialing a number, "Miss Sato, your guest just arrived." There was a pause as the person on the other end spoke, "Understood." He hung up the phone smiling up at Korra, "She said she'll be down in a minute."

Korra grunted crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the desk. This was turning out to be more of a hassle then she had first thought. Whoever this Sato person was better be a damn fast learner.

About five minutes had past when Korra decided she was done waiting and pushed herself up off the desk and was halfway to the door when the sound of heels clicking against the tile stopped her in her tracks. She turned around just in time to see someone rounding the corner. Korra watched as a woman walked toward her a smile on her face, "Korra! I'm so glad you came." The woman said as she stuck out her hand after coming to a full stop in front of Korra.

Korra opted to shove her hands in the pockets of her pants leaning back on her heels as she said, "You're a Waterbender?" Skepticism leaked into Korra's voice as she took in the woman who had come to a stop in front of her eyeing her up and down. She had wavy black hair that cascaded down her shoulders and framed her face. She had pale skin which was accentuated by her hair and her pale green eyes stood out against both. Her lips were painted red and her eyes shadowed with purple. She was beautiful and vaguely familiar.

The woman laughed letting her hand fall to her side, "No, I just wanted to get to know you better." Korra was now officially lost. Did she know this person? Did this person know her? Had they meet before? Korra was ready to run through every possible scenario when the woman called out, "Are you coming?" Korra noticed that the woman had started walking only to stop once she reached the corner. Korra leisurely walked after her following her as she turned the corner and came to a stop in front of a small yet ornate elevator.

She swiped a card across the wall and the doors opened revealing what was probably the world's fanciest elevator. The woman entered and Korra followed pressing herself against the wall opposite the woman who pressed the lit up arrow causing the lift to begin to move. Korra starred at the woman in front of her trying to place just why she recognised her because Korra was sure that she knew her from somewhere. "Is there a reason your staring at me like that?"

"Have we meet before?" Korra rubbed her chin leaning forward slightly.

"You mean you-" She stopped shaking her head before giving Korra an obviously forced smile, "Councilman Tenzin introduced us at the charity event I held last month." At the blank look Korra must have given her she went into more detail, "You, uh, offered me a cream puff." With that a light bulb went off in Korra's head as she finally placed the woman.

"Oh right. I did do that." Korra wasn't embarrassed or ashamed of what she had done after all she had practically wiped the encounter from her memory right after it had happened. Korra hadn't really thought she would ever see the woman again but here she was standing in front of her looking like she was in deep thought.

"You completely forgot you met me, didn't you?" The woman asked and Korra simply shrugged leaning against the wall. "Do you even remember my name?"

"Does it matter?" Korra crossed her arms over her chest watching from the corner of her eye as the woman's shoulders sagged. Korra let out a sigh and uncrossed her arms. "Your names Sato something or other." Korra gestured with her hand as spoke, "Right?"

This caused the woman to give a small laugh, "Its Asami Sato." Korra nodded, "I really didn't make much of an impression, did I?"

Thankfully before Korra was expected to answer the elevator came to a stop with a ding and the doors slid open. Asami stepped out Korra following her into the apartment taking in her surroundings. The apartment was simple yet cozy in it's design and layout with soft looking rugs, felt couches, and a fireplace making up the living area. Korra noticed a staircase off to the side and the beginning of a bar that was probably lead to the kitchen. "This way."

Korra followed the sound to see Asami standing in front of a glass door that lead out onto a balcony. Korra walked forward noting that she had been right about the kitchen which was spotless and stepped out onto the balcony. The balcony itself was rather large with a flat veranda over head providing shade. There was a table and chairs off to one side and a set of a couch and some chairs around a coffee table off to the other.

"So you just want to watch me bend?" Korra gestured lamley to the plastic container filled with water sitting near the center of the balcony. Asami had taken a seat in one of the chairs looking up at Korra with something like amusement in her eyes. "Won't that be a little boring?"

"Not at all." Korra waited for more of an explanation but when one didn't come she turned to the tub of water and let out a breath before carefully bending the water up into the air. She moved the water around her body in slow languid motions not really caring about form. A couple minutes had passed when Asami finally spoke, "What's bending like?" Korra was caught off guard by the question and nearly dropped the water.

She turned to look at Asami, a question on her face as she spoke, "What do you mean?"

Asami leaned against the arm of the chair a smile playing on her lips, "What's it like to be able to move water with your mind?" This time Korra did drop the water before catching it and moving it back into the tub in a single fluid motion. Korra stared at Asami trying to understand how someone who was, according to Tenzin, the CEO of a company and should be relatively smart believed something so stupid that it made Korra want to laugh. The misconception had come about in recent years and while Korra had been angry at first but after the first decade it had just become laughable that people thought bending was something of telekinesis. That being able to bend made you a psychic. "Um, Korra? Are you okay?" Korra guessed that she'd been quiet a little longer then she'd meant to but it was taking so time to process what had been said.

"Is that really what you think? That bending is some kind of telekinetic ability?" Korra ended her question with a finger to the side of her head.

She watched as Asami nodded ashamedly mumbling, "Yeah. Is that wrong?"

Korra let out a sigh as she turned back to the water, "Yeah. It is." Bending out of the tub and into a sphere she continued, "Bending is more like a martial art then anything else. You move your body a certain way and the movement facilitates the bending of the element."

"But how does that work?" Asami asked leaning forward eagerly, "I mean, I can't just move my arms a certain way and be able to bend water but you can? Why are you able to bend but I'm not?"

It was a good question one that Korra thankfully knew that answer to. "Chi." Korra said as she bent the water into a stream bending it around her body, "Chi flows through everyone like water flows through a river, splitting off into smaller streams creating branches all throughout the forest or in this case your body." Korra brought the water back into a sphere as she continued "Chi is what allows people to bend." Korra bent the large sphere into several smaller spheres with a wide circular gesture, "The movement simply facilitates the flow from one point to another." With a sweeping gesture she sent the orbs back into the tub.

"If everyone has chi then why can't some people bend?" Asami asked and this was a question that Korra didn't know the exact answer to but she did have some theories.

"I think it has to do with some people being able to access their Chi while others can't." Korra scratched the back of her head, "It's not something I've ever really thought about."

Asami stood up a smile on her face, "But aren't you curious why you can bend? I mean, you have a gift." This caused Korra to frown. Korra had come to accept that people saw bending as one of two things, a gift or a curse. To most people bending was something that only a select few were 'gifted' with and Korra found herself feeling something akin to loss with this change in the world. Korra was gifted not with the ability to bend but with the talent to do it well.

She knew there was a difference but most people know a days saw them as one and the same.

She let out a sigh, "I guess I do." The smile fell from Asami's face and watched as she sat back down.

"Do you know any tricks?" There was something in her words that made Korra glance towards her and she the unspoken apology in her eyes.

"Tricks? You want me to do tricks?" Korra quirked an eyebrow at the woman before her who smirked in a way that would probably have been endearing if not for what Korra expected was coming next.

"Yeah. You are a Waterbending Master, aren't you?" And there it was. The declaration of challenge that Korra had know was coming the moment the words left her mouth and she had seen the smirk on the other woman's face. Korra wanted to ignore the other woman's challenge, to scoff at her request but the childish, overly competitive part of Korra wouldn't let that happen.

Letting out a frustrated sigh Korra ran a hand over her face, "That I am." She rubbed her chin trying to give the air of deep thought, "Tricks. Tricks. Do I know any tricks?" Korra couldn't remember the last time she had used Waterbending for something like doing tricks. It just wasn't something that Korra had thought important to learn or practice. She wasn't a child. Hadn't been for a long time. Korra tapped her finger against her chin humming as she scoured her memories for something that could be called a waterbending trick find that nothing in recent centuries. Korra realized that she would have to think back further then she liked to. She was going to have to think back on her childhood. It wasn't that her childhood had been bad, she'd had loving parents who had been nothing but supportive of her, it was that thinking about everything that she had once had caused Korra to feel a deep sadness at everything she had also lost.

Korra decided to simply focus on the waterbending she had learned as a child, going through every technique she had learned until she came upon something that she knew would fill both requirements of this challenge. It was a trick while also being a way to demonstrate that, yes, Korra is a Waterbending Master.

Korra turned back to the tub of water carefully bending it up and beginning the preparations for the trick as she spoke, "This is something..." Korra bent the water into the shape of a small dragon that was both frozen and not. It was a difficult technique keeping the dragons body frozen in shape yet fluid enough to move. As Korra began to move the dragon around the the balcony her mind began to wander. Korra remembered teaching herself this years ago. She remembered the show she'd put on in her village to showcase her skills as a newly-minted Master. She remembered how proud her parents especially her father. She remembered how he had pulled her into the tightest embrace and had whispered, ' _I'm so proud of you.'_ into her ear. She remembered the feast her parents had prepared for her to celebrate.

Korra was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of utter loss and quickly bent the dragon into the side of the wall turning it into mist as it collided with the wall. Korra was barely aware of the sound of clapping coming from her only audience member as she began the process of shoving those memories back behind the wall where she kept them locked away.

"That was Amazing, Korra!" Asami said standing. Korra didn't quite react as she struggled to bury the feel that had taken hold of her. Korra didn't often cry. She had learned to hide her emotions and bottle up her sadness in what was probably a very unhealthy coping mechanism. Though when she did she cried for hours and she was currently on the verge of tears. Korra didn't want to break down in front of complete stranger so she began moving toward the door even as Asami spoke, "Can you do it again?"

"No."

Korra opened the door taking a step through when Asami called out, "Wait! Don't go!" Korra stopped turning around to look at her and see that she had come to a stop a few feet away, "I was hoping that we could schedule another lesson." She steepled her fingers nervously. Korra just stared blankly at Asami unsure of what to say.

"Why?" Korra asked. Korra liked to think she was pretty good at telling when someone was lying. She had centuries of practice in telling when someone was telling a lie and it served her well.

Asami tilted her head to the side before letting out a laugh, "Would you believe me if I said I just wanted to get to know you better." Korra crossed her arms over her chest frowning at the woman in front of her.

"No I wouldn't."

Asami placed her hands on her hips frowning slightly, "Well it's true. I'd really like to try and be friends with you." Korra could tell she was telling the truth and really did want to be friends with Korra. "I don't have that many unaging friends. I think it'd be nice to have a friend close to my own age." Korra looked at Asami somewhat shocked. How old did she think she was? Korra didn't think she'd told anyone her real age in over half a century and there was no way Tenzin would have told her. Korra looked at the light in this woman's eyes. At the hope and couldn't bring herself to deny her request.

"Okay. You can have another lesson." The way her eyes lit up made everything worth it. "But I have some conditions. First," Korra held up her index finger and made sure she had Asami's attention before speaking again, "I will not, no matter the circumstances, wake up before the sun does. The mornings are evil." This made Asami to giggle only to quickly stifle the sound. Korra help up another finger before continuing, "Secondly, If you want another waterbending lesson you can come to my dojo like the rest of my students. I don't have the time nor patients for house calls." Asami nodded and Korra could see that she had a couple questions but was holding her tongue. "Lastly, No touching. I don't like to be touched and if you touch me I won't hesitate to water whip your ass." Again Asami chuckled only to quickly stifle the sound.

"Can I ask a couple questions?" Korra nodded and Asami quickly continued, "What if I just want to hang out with you? To get to know you better? Would the stated rules still apply?"

Korra thought for a moment rubbing her chin before saying, "Yeah they would." Asami physically dropped but Korra continued, "But I guess you could come by the Island instead if you just want to hang out."

"Island? As in Air Temple Island?" Asami asked disbelief coloring her words and Korra nodded.

"Yeah. I'm, uh, staying with Tenzin. You could come by sometime next week. Hows Saturday?"

"It's perfect." Asami said and then offered, "Want me to escort you down?"

Korra shook her head, "I think I can manage." Korra exited the balcony and walked through the apartment eventually coming to a stop at the elevator. She pressed the button, stepping in it and the doors closed behind her.

Korra slumped against the doors letting herself break now that she was alone. What was she thinking. Agreeing to another meeting with this woman. She wasn't lying but that didn't mean she wasn't going to start. Korra had dealt with her fair share of liars and she no longer trusted people. She no longer trusted humanity. This woman wouldn't be any different. So why did she wish that she would be. Korra pressed her hand against her eyes letting out a stuttering breath. "What am I doing."

* * *

Air Temple Island was just off the coast of Republic City and could easily be seen from the harbor but most people had never set foot the island. It was a private island that was home to the last known family of airbenders. Taking a ferry to the island had been the easy part finding her way around was harder. For such a small island it was rather hard to find her way around. There were many buildings all connected by covered walkways that lead from one building to another. Asami wondered the island unsure of where she was until she noticed a familiar flash of orange and yellow not to far in the distance. Asami quickened her pace until she came upon Tenzin who was hunched over a pai sho board stroking his beard as his eyes roamed over the pieces on the board before eventually moving one of the fire pieces a few spaces.

"Your still not very good at this, Tenzin" Asami's eyes snapped up at the sound of Korra's voice to see her sitting across from Tenzin. She had one arm draped over her knee with the other propped her leg using her hand to hold up her face. Asami watched Korra as she looked over the board her eyes jumping from one piece to another.

"You might want to take a seat. This will probably take a while." Tenzin spoke resignation in his voice. Asami walked around Korra stepping onto the walkway and taking a seat in between them. Tenzin had taken a meditative stance and while Korra kept looking over the board. Asami could see several good moves for Korra to take that could win the game but for some reason she didn't seem to want to use those.

"If you moved your air tile here you could-" Asami was cut off by a hand in here face.

"Shut up. I'm thinking." Asami was slightly offended but she was also curious. She wanted to see just where this game was going. She watched Korra before turning her attention to the board. She could see several good moves that could be used to advance the game in Korra's favor but Korra obviously saw something that Asami didn't.

It felt like nearly an hour had passed when Korra finally decided on a move. Asami watched as she took her White Lotus tile which was already rather far up board and moved it. She jumped over several of Tenzin's tiles: Two Fire, Two Water, Two Air, and his only While Lotus Tile. Asami stared at the board as Korra collected the tiles from the board. She had just ended the game in a single move and Asami hadn't seen it coming. Tenzing let out an incredibly childish huff and Korra laughed, "Wanna go again? Maybe I'll go easy on you this time."

He crossed his arms over his chest in a childish pout, "You never go easy on me." Korra laughed at this as she began to reset the board.

"How are you expected to get any better if I let you win all the time." Reached out patting him on the head, "I'm doing you a favor. Trust me."

Tenzin stood up causing the board to bounce as his knee hit it, "I'm done. I have..." He paused looking to the let before continuing, " _Things_ I need to do." He stepped off the walkway landing lightly on his feet.

"Come on Tenny-Bear your just mad that I keep kicking your ass." Asami couldn't help the snort that escaped her at the nickname. Tenzin turned beat red at it.

"I've told to stop calling me that! I'm a grown man and am to old for childish nicknames." He practically yelled and Korra just chuckled. "I'm leaving. Maybe you can convince Miss Sato to play with you." Tenzin whipped his cloak as he turned and strode away leaving the two of them alone.

Korra turned to Asami and asked, "Wanna play Pai Sho?" Asami smiled moving to take Tenzin's spot. She set up her side of the board while Korra did the same. Once both of them had set up their sides Korra gestured to the board offering, "You can go first."

Asami smiled in thanks and proceeded to stare at the board for a good five minutes before finally moving her fire tile a up slightly. She grinned up at Korra who didn't noticed and instead stared at the board eventually moving a water tile to the up. It continued like this for a few moves until Asami began capturing Korra's tiles and suddenly the way Korra moved her tiles changed. She took longer deciding on moves and stopped making ones that were easily countered. Asami tried to keep up but it found it increasingly hard to follow the flow of the game and could tell the she was on the losing end. She moved her white lotus tile only for Korra to quickly claim it after a brief deliberation. "You're really good."

Korra began resetting the board, "So are you. You lasted longer then Tenzin. He usually gives up when we realizes he's losing." Korra finished resetting the board and looked up smiled, "Wanna play again?"

Asami would have loved to continue but the game had lasted longer the she had thought it would and she had a video call scheduled with investors at 4:30. She glanced at her watch to see that it was 2:40 which gave her just enough time to get home and prepare. "I'm sorry but I can't. I have work things to take care off." Korra leaned back on her hands as Asami got to her feet.

"Okay. Maybe we can play again sometime?" Asami smiled at that.

"I would love too. I'll make sure my schedule is clear next saturday." Korra nodded and smiled back. It was a beautiful sight.

"Sounds like a plan." Asami gave her a little wave and began to make her way back toward the dock. She had seen a different side of Korra today. A playful one who joked and smiled. But this new side only raised more questions than it answered. She stepped on the ferry and watched as Air Temple Island got further away.

Korra might be an enigma but she was also really good at Pai Sho and Asami looked forward to playing her again.


	5. Finding Routines

Over the next month she and Asami had found a routine that worked rather well for them. Every Saturday Asami would come over to Air Temple Air Island around ten o'clock and wait for Korra to wake up around eleven. From there Korra would grab something to eat after which they would begin playing Pai Sho. Korra would almost always lose the first game as she was much too tired to properly think through all the possible moves and luring Asami into a false sense of security before coming around and thoroughly wiping the floor with her. Korra smiled at the memory of the first time she'd employed this tactic on Asami. She rather enjoyed Asami's company which was something she didn't say about many people. Which was saying something given that Korra wasn't a social person. She prefered the company of those who enjoyed peaceful silences as much as she did. She prefered to sit in silence and read or play Pai Sho then to do something that required interactions with other people. Asami was one of those people. One of those people who Korra could sit and play Pai Sho with for hours with the other two being Tenzin and Jinora. Though Korra often spent more time meditating with Jinora then she did playing Pai Sho with her. Korra figured another reason she enjoyed Asami's company so much was because of just how honest she was. Korra always prefered to surround herself with honest people. It was a personal preference born from years of being burned by liars.

Korra would be the first to admit that she was a hypocrite. She valued honesty in those around her yet was the most likely to lie straight to someone's face. She was a hypocrite but at least she was honest with herself and others that she was. She knew herself and who she was. She also knew that she was too old to start changing her ways now.

"Aha! I've got it!" Asami suddenly exclaimed shocking Korra out of her trance and focusing her attention back on the game. She watched as Asami moved her lotus tile a couple places eventually claiming Korra's own lotus tile. Asami picked them up off the board smirking triumphantly as she added them to her pile of tiles.

Korra clapped and smiled at Asami, "Nice. Do you wanna play again?" Asami looked at her watch and let out a hiss.

"I'd love to but its already three and the last ferry leaves at four." Asami swung her feet over the edge of the walkway slipping her shoes back on. Korra found herself uncharacteristically disappointed that Asami already had to leave for the day.

"I could give you a ride back." Asami looked at her raising a questioning eyebrow, "If you stay for another game or two I could give you a ride back." Asami turned to look at her with a sweet smile.

"That's sweet of you to offer but I should really get going. Same time next Saturday?" Asami slid her purse onto her shoulder as she spoke and Korra leaned back on her hands smiling back.

"Yeah. Sounds perfect." Asami gave a wave before turning and heading back toward the docks. Korra fell backward letting out a content sigh as she ran a hand through her hair. She really enjoyed Asami's company and couldn't wait for next Saturday.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" And just like that Korra's good mood was ruined. Korra looked up at Meelo who was grinning down at her with a shit eating grin that just reeked of mischief. The lemur that was perched on his shoulder didn't help his image.

"A person who is in no mood for you shit today Meelo." Korra grumbled as she glared up at the nine year old who simply continued to smile down at her like he knew something she didn't.

"Me thinks you might have a crush on Asami." Meelo cooed and Korra just continued to glare up at the small airbender. Before Korra could open her mouth to respond, Ikki appeared out of nowhere using a gust of air to cushion her landing.

"You have a crush on Asami!? Do you _like like_ her? Is she your soulmate? Do you want her to be your-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there." Korra cut Ikki off who crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "I don't "like like" Asami. We're just friends."

"You have friends?" Ikki asked incredulously placing her hands on her hips and raising her eyebrow.

Korra sat up and glared at them, "Yes, as crazy as it may seem I do have friends outside of this family and Asami happens to be one of them."

Meelo crossed his arms over his chest leaning his head back, "I don't know if I buy that. It sounds a load of Monkey feathers to me."

Korra placed her hands on her knees and leaned forward, "Well, its not. Me and Asami are just Pai Sho buddies."

"You sound like an old lady." Ikki said a pout in her voice.

Korra pushed herself to her feet with a groan. "Well that's because I am an old lady." She turned her attention to to the young airbenders saying, "So if you don't want your cheeks pinched I'd scram."

Meelo looked up at Korra clearly unimpressed with the threat, "Fine. We'll leave but that's only because we're not getting anywhere with our current tactics." Meelo turned on his heel and began walking away.

Ikki lingered a little longer leaning forward slightly clasping her hands behind her back, "Just between you and me I think you and Asami would be really good as soulmates. I think she would be really good for you." Sometimes Ikki surprised Korra with how insightful she could be. She was often just as childish and immature as her brother but she had her moments where she showed that she was maturing into a kind and caring person that Korra knew Tenzin would be proud of. That she knew Aang would be proud of.

Korra watched as Ikki followed her and let out a sigh. She didn't want to dwell on what Ikki had said. Korra didn't exactly try to hide her feeling toward the idea of soulmates. The idea of forever had lost its appeal for Korra a long time ago and the idea that there was only one person out there who was _meant_ for you seemed statistically impossible. The fact that people had been tricked into thinking there was only one person in the entire world who was your "perfect other half" was absurd. Korra had meet plenty of people in her life that fit into that criteria who hadn't been her soulmate and it baffled Korra how people could think that the only types of relationship that could work were those between soulmates.

Korra let out a sigh and began heading toward the main building. She planned on raiding the kitchen for a late lunch before going to bed. Korra didn't like the concept of soulmates but that didn't matter because Korra didn't have one.

* * *

Saturday couldn't have come fast enough. Asami had found a routine over the last month where she would work hard all week so that she could play hard on the weekends. Playing Pai Sho with Korra had become something that Asami looked forward to each week. Korra had opened up more in the weeks that had followed their first meeting not a lot but enough to know a little more about her. Such as the fact that she was born in the Southern Water Tribe but had lived in Republic City for about twenty years. That she owned a dojo where she taught bending and that she had very strong opinions about the art of bending and how it was dying out.

Asami stepped off the ferry onto Air Temple Island and immediately began heading toward where she usually found Korra waiting, only to find the spot empty. Asami was momentarily confused and she wondered briefly if she'd come on the wrong day before shaking her head of the thought. She began to wonder through the Island not sure where she was going but she figured that Korra was either asleep or somewhere else on the island. Asami took in the sights of of the island as she walked down the path under oak trees that were just starting to bare leaves again. As she walked she noticed someone wearing the familiar yellow and orange robes of the air nation and jogged forward calling out, "Hey, excuse me!?" The person who, if Asami's research was correct, was more than likely an acolyte turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Do you know where Korra might be?"

The acolyte inclined their head slightly as they spoke, "I think I saw her over by the airball court." The acolyte moved to keep walking but Asami quickly stopped him.

"And uh, where might that be?" Asami felt stupid for asking the question even though she knew it wasn't. The acolyte turned back toward the way he had been come from and pointed down the pathway.

"Just keep walking down the path until you come to a fork in it then go left. You should come to it eventually." Asami nodded and said a brief thank you before she headed on her way. She followed the instructions and eventually came to what she assumed was the airball court which didn't look like any kind of sports court she had ever seen. There were large wooden poles about as high as some of the buildings along with what looked like some kind of goal posts at either end. As Asami came to stop she noticed Korra, who she was pretty sure she could pick out of a crowd at this point, standing on a pole at the far end of the court. She stood in a loose defensive stance her hands out in front of her and her knees bent slightly. She had a look of determination on her face. The same one she got when they played Pai Sho.

Suddenly one of other players locked eyes with Asami and smirked, "Hey Korra! Asami is here!" She pointed at Asami and Korra looked at her, a smile pulling at her lips as she fell out of the defensive stance. The fact that she could make Korra smile was something that Asami was proud of as it didn't seem like she smiled for just anyone. Korra raised her hand giving Asami a wave only for a ball to collide with her stomach sending her flying off the pole. The girl cheered and Asami rushed over to where Korra had landed on a bush.

"Korra, are you okay?" Asami asked kneeling beside her and she had to actively keep herself from touching Korra as she let out a pained groan. She struggled to push herself out of the foliage and Asami hesitantly helped her up unsure if she was overstepping her boundaries. Korra had said she didn't want to be touched but perhaps that was just because she was touch adverse.

"I'm fine." She winced as she pushed herself to her feet placing a hand over her stomach, "Oh yeah. That's definitely gonna bruise." Asami stood up as well and Korra gave her a crooked smile that made Asami's heart skip a beat. "Hey I'm sorry but the air brats dragged me into a game of Airball. Give me a moment to show them who's boss and we can go play Pai Sho."

"Like you can beat us!" The youngest of the players called and Asami suddenly realized that all three of Tenzin's children were on the side of the field opposite Korra meaning that it was three on one which was nowhere near fair.

"Do you want some back up? Three on one seems a little unfair." Korra laughed at Asami's comment patting her on the shoulder.

"It's cute that you think I need help." Asami opened her mouth to respond only to watch in silence as Korra easily remounted the pole she had been thrown off of. "Can you throw me the ball?" Asami looked to where Korra pointed noticing the ball that had rolled to the side and walked over picking it up. The wooden ball was hallow which probably had something to do with the game of Airball. She walked over to the pole tossing up to Korra who smiled in thanks before turning back to her opponents.

Asami took a seat figuring that she was already here and might as just enjoy what was sure to be an interesting show. She watched as the ball began spinning in Korra's hand and Asami did a double take because Korra definitely wasn't an airbender. It took Asami longer than she would have liked to realize that she wasn't bending the air itself but the water within it. The ball spun faster and faster in Korra's hand before she sent it forward with an underhand throw that ricocheted through the poles before flying through the goal post. The shocked look on the children's face was humorous and Korra laughed. Truly a beautiful sound.

One of Tenzin's children retrieved the ball before returning to his perch. He spun the ball in his hand before shooting it through the poles and toward Korra who sent it back toward him. Asami struggled to keep up with the action going on only really knowing what was happening when someone scored a goal. Asami did her best to keep track of points finding that the game was close. With Korra having scored 10 goals and the air children having scored 11 so that they were all tied up.

Korra spun the ball in her hand, "Wanna make this a little more interesting?"

One of the children, the youngest girl, crossed her arms over her chest, "How so?" Korra smirked, throwing the ball and sending it rechoceting through the poles past the air children and through the goal post.

"Like that!" Korra cried jumping up and cheering, "Korra for the win!" The children let out a groans of despair and Korra jumped down from the pole. "Asami did you see that!" Korra called the smile on her face. "I totally kicked their butts." Asami stood up flashing a smile at Korra who continued, "Now we can play Pai Sho."

Asami checked the time on her watch, frowning, "I would love to but..." Korra frowned obviously knowing what she had been going to say.

"But you have to leave already, don't you?" Asami nodded and anger crossed Korra's features as she placed her hands on her hips, "Those damn air brats. I swear, I'm gonna make them pay for this."

Asami smiled, "Well, I enjoyed watching you today. So, I don't think it wasn't a total loss." Korra laughed and, god, was it a beautiful sound and she wanted nothing more than to hear more of it.

"Well, that's good." Korra said, her shoulders bounced with the sound. "Next Saturday I promise I won't let myself be dragged into impromptu Airball games. Pai Sho as usual."

"Sounds good. I look forward to playing you." Asami said and Korra smiled a beautiful smile.

"Good. I need to go put ice on my stomach so...see you Saturday?" Korra said and Asami nodded watching as Korra disappeared around the corner leaving Asami alone with Tenzin's children.

"Do you like Korra?" Asked the youngest girl who looked up at her curiously.

"Yes. I do." The look that crossed the girls face caused Asami to add, "I consider her a good friend."

The girl shook her head frowning, "No. I mean, do you _like like_ her? Because you act like you have a crush on her. I think Korra might have a crush on you but she's not very-"

"Ikki stop annoying Asami." The older girl cut Ikki off and Asami watched as she pouted crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh come on, Jinora I know you're curious about why Korra's acting so weird." Jinora, who was the oldest and from the tattoo's on her forehead was an airbending master, let out a sigh.

"Korra is her own person and we shouldn't stick our nose in her life just because we can." It was obvious that Jinora was the stereotypical responsible older sibling. Asami looked down at the two figuring it wouldn't hurt to humor them. They were only children after all.

"I don't have a crush on her. We're just really good friends." Asami said sweetly and Ikki gave her an incredulous look.

"Are you sure?" Ikki said placing her hand on her hip.

"Yes. I mean, it's not like I lay awake at night thinking about her." Asami said with a laugh and Ikki gave her a look that said she didn't buy it. Asami found she didn't either.

Later that night as Asami laid in bed, the sound of Korra's laughter and the sight of her smile played over and over in her head, "Uh-Oh."


	6. Low Points

Korra should have known that it wouldn't last. That the emotional high she'd felt for the last month wouldn't last. It never did and it always left Korra feeling the worse for it in the end. It was days like these that the family meals that took place with Tenzin's family weren't as welcome as they normally were. They seemed to drag on and Korra never found herself particularly hungary during these low points. Korra shoved the eggs and grits around her plate with her fork and her head held in her free hand. She let out a sigh, setting down her fork and pushing away her plate.

"Are you okay, Korra?" Tenzin asked, concern evident in his voice and Korra just sighed again.

"I'm not that hungry." Korra pushed against the table sliding backward with little resistance. She stood up forcing a smile as she spoke, "I think I want to be alone for a while." Concern was still etched in Tenzin's features as Korra turned and left the dining area. The walk back to Korra's room took longer than it should have as she purposefully took a longer, less populous route in order to avoid running into someone. The moment Korra entered her room she collapsed on her bed, borrowing her head into her pillow. The heavy feeling that settled over her was one that she was all too familiar with. The feeling that nothing she did mattered. That no matter how hard she tried nothing she did would affect her future.

Tenzin often encouraged Korra to seek professional help for her mental health problems but she refused. Korra didn't need some head doctor to tell her that she was depressed. She was well aware of that fact. She didn't need to go and talk to someone about her problems. She had managed just fine without a therapist and, to be frank, she was pretty sure that no therapist could handle her all of her problems no matter how skilled they may be.

Korra usually just waited for whatever funk she was in to pass which could take anywhere from a couple days to a few weeks. But until that happened Korra needed to take precautions so that she didn't upset her carefully constructed life. The first thing she did was use her smartphone, a gift from Kya on her last visit, to send an email to all of her students' parents letting them know that classes would be canceled indefinitely. The moment that was done Korra turned off her phone in order to avoid the onslaught of concerned phone calls she was likely to get. She tossed the phone away and then forced herself up out of the bed walking over to window and opening the curtains to let the sun in. Doing so sometimes helped Korra feel a little better slightly faster than usual. She hoped it would help this time. She laid back down in bed trying not think.

Korra hated thinking while she felt like this. Thinking always seemed too much when she was like this so she choose not to do so when she fell down this hole. She often failed at this step which only made her feel worse. Korra stared out the window watching the growing sunlight.

The sun was one of the things Korra liked about the world. It was a constant in a world of change. It made Korra feel better knowing that she wasn't alone in her unchanging nature. The sun would always rise and set at the same time everyday.

It was a small comfort.

The people around her were constantly changing as well. Korra could remember a time when Katara and Sokka had been children who she had watched grow up into amazing people who had done amazing things. Sokka was dead now and Korra hadn't visited Katara in fifteen years because she didn't want to confront the fact that she would out live yet another person. She hadn't even been able to bring herself to attend Sokka's funeral twelve years prior. It would have made it feel more real than it already was. There was also Aang's death seventeen years ago that had hit Korra pretty hard.

The sound of a knock at her door brought her depressive thought train to a screeching halt and she opened her eyes just as Pema entered her room. Korra turned her attention back to window noticing how dark it had gotten. She had spent nearly the entire day in a depressive spiral which only made her feel even worse. The bed bent under Pema's weight as she sat down and she placed a comforting hand on Korra's shoulder as she spoke, "I made you a sandwich. Please, try and eat some of it." Korra glanced at Pema out of the corner of her eye and let out a heavy sigh as she pushed herself up. Pema handed her the plate with the sandwich a gentle smile on her lips. Pema was one of the only people who ever really paid Korra much attention when she was like this with the other being Jinora. She knew the reason why they, out of everyone, were the ones to check on her. It had to do with an incident that had occurred three years ago but still haunted the two of them since.

Korra set the plate on her lap picking up the sandwich and taking a bite. The flavor that flooded her taste buds let Korra know just what kinda sandwich it was. She chewed slowly before swallowing and looking down at the thick Italian sandwich. She wasn't sure if she could eat any more but didn't want it to go to waste. "If you can't finish it that's fine. Just try to take a couple more bites." Korra nodded solemnly taking a few more bites before handing the plate back to Pema who took it with a smile. "If you need anything just let me or Jinora know."

Korra forced a smile as she nodded, "I will." Pema stood up and pressed a kiss to the side of Korra's head before leaving her alone once more. Laying back down, Korra let her eyes flutter closed trying not to think about the reason why Pema had said what she had said.

The sun rose and fell several times since that first morning and Korra still wasn't feeling any better. Pema or Jinora would check on her each day, sometimes more then once, and they would usually try to get her to eat. Which is why she wasn't all to shocked when there was a knock at her door followed by Jinora's voice, "I'm coming in." Korra glanced up as Jinora entered the room a plate in one hand and a glass of water in the other. She set both on Korra's bedside table before turning her attention to the person in question, "Please try and eat more than a few bites this time."

Korra gave her a weak smile, "I'll try." She could see that Jinora wasn't happy with her response as she frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.

Jinora let out a huff before uncrossing her arms and asking, "Are you feeling any better?" Korra didn't have to think for long before shaking her head.

"No, not really." Normally Korra wouldn't have bothered with a follow up question but there was something about the way Jinora lingered by the door that made her ask, "Why do you ask?"

Jinora fidgeted slightly and avoided Korra's eyes, things that she wasn't normally prone to doing, before speaking, "It's just that Asami stopped by and I told her that you weren't feeling well but she, uh..." Jinora took a deep breath finally locking eyes with Korra, "She won't leave. I think she wants to see you herself." Korra ran a hand over her face, "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise. It's not your fault." Jinora visibly relaxed and Korra let out a sigh, "You can just tell her I don't want to get her sick, okay?"

Jinora nodded and gave a smile that was very much like her mother's, "I was going to do that I just didn't know if you maybe wanted to see her." Korra knew that there was probably some reasoning behind that assumption but she was currently much too tired to try to figure what that reasoning was. Jinora gave a wave before closing the door behind her as she left, leaving Korra alone once more.

As it turned out this would not be an isolated event as the next day Korra found herself in a similar situation. "She, what?" Korra grumbled at Pema who, unlike her daughter, stood her ground in the face of the woman who probably looked just about as pleasant as an angry komodo rhino.

"Asami's here again." Pema crossed her arms over her chest fixing Korra with a look, "Asking to see you."

Korra let out a groan falling back onto her pillow, "Tell her to leave."

Pema let out a huff, "I've tried. She's nearly as stubborn as you are." Korra let out frustrated groan.

"Then do it again." Pema let out a sigh, walking around the side of Korra's bed and sitting down and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Let her see you, Korra. She thinks you're sick and she's worried." Korra avoided looking at Pema.

"Tell her to leave." Pema let out a sigh, pressing a kiss to the side of her head, before standing up and leaving Korra alone.

Korra had left her room for the first time in two weeks when she nearly ran into Asami. Okay, so that wasn't entirely accurate. She had been _kicked out_ of her room, told to go take a shower, and get some fresh air. Korra knew that when she returned, her sweat covered sheets would have been replaced with clean ones.

"Korra..." Asami said sounding somewhere between concerned and exasperated.

As always, Asami was dressed impeccably with not a single hair out of place. She wondered just who she was trying to impress because it definitely wasn't Korra given that she looked and smelled like shit.

Her perfect appearance _might_ have made Korra embarrassed of her own if she wasn't too tired to feel pretty much anything.

Korra elected to ignore Asami, moving around her and continuing her trek toward the bathroom, "Korra, wait..."

Korra just kept walking. She really wasn't in the mood today.

* * *

Asami watched as Korra disappeared around the corner unsure of what just happened. That hadn't been the reaction she had expected to receive. It had seemed more like the kind of reaction she would've gotten two months ago then the ones she had gotten while they spent time together. Asami had come to expect Korra to greet her with crooked smiles and happy words. This was disconcerting to say the least.

Asami stepped off the covered walkway deciding that she needed to get the bottom of what was happening. She wandered the island figuring that the best people to ask were Tenzin's children given what she'd seen of their relationship with Korra. Or was it Korra's relationship with them? Asami shook her head deciding that she could figure out the simatices of their relationship later.

It wasn't hard to find Tenzin's children. All she had to do was follow the sound of laughter until she came to a small clearing where his three youngest children were playing. The youngest drew on the ground with chalk while the older two tossed a ball back and forth with airbending. "Uh, excuse me..." The older boy caught the ball and both turned to look at her.

"Yes?" Ikki said, craning her head to look up at Asami a curious look on her face.

"Can you tell me what's wrong with Korra?" The two children exchanged a look before Ikki spoke again.

"You should ask Jinora. She knows more than we do."

Asami considered this briefly before asking, "And where is Jinora?" Ikki caught the ball when it was tossed back at her by the other child.

"You might be able to find her at the mediation pavilion." Before Asami could open her mouth to ask just where that was Ikki answered her question for her, "It's on the east side of the island. Kinda hard to miss." Asami gave a nod thanking the young airbenders before continuing on her way. The island was incredibly small when compared to Republic City and Asami quickly made it to the east side of the island finding that Ikki had been right about it being hard to miss. It was the only one on the east side with a person under it and as Asami approached she was able to tell who that person was.

Jinora sat in the center of the pavilion, her eyes closed, legs crossed, and her fists pressed together. Asami walked up the steps before coming to a stop and leaning against the one of the columns. She watched Jinora, not quite sure how to start this conversation when she spoke, "If you have something to ask then just ask."

Asami was caught a little off guard given how quiet she had been trying to be but apparently that hadn't been quiet enough. She cleared her throat before saying, "I want to talk about Korra."

Without opening her eyes, Jinora gestured in front of her, "Have a seat." Asami did as she was told sitting down in front of the teen. "What about Korra do you want to talk about?"

Asami took a deep breath, preparing herself for this, "Is she sick? You said she was but that was nearly two weeks ago..." Asami trailed off not quite sure how to finish that sentence.

"Your asking me if Korra is sick?" Asami gave a quiet affirmation and Jinora continued, "Physically no. Mentally yes." Perhaps Jinora could sense her confusion because she quickly continued, "She's depressed."

Asami suddenly understood why Ikki had said Jinora would know more than them. She hadn't understood the complexities of mental health at that age either and even now she sometimes struggled to understand them. Mental health was a complex issue and Asami did not claim to be an expert on the topic. "I didn't know..."

Jinora finally opened her eyes, letting out a sigh as she fixed Asami with an understanding look, "She's really good at hiding it." She closed her eyes again returning to meditating.

Asami sucked in a breath looking away for a moment before asking, "How long has she-"

"Since before I was born." It was kind of scary how accurately she was predicting what she going to say though maybe she was just being incredibly obvious about it.

Asami bit her lip looking off to the side thinking for a moment before asking, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Jinora opened her eyes again, fixing her with another look. Though this one set Asami somewhat on edge. She rubbed her chin with her hand letting out a thoughtful noise, "Actually I think there is something you can do to help." She pushed herself to her feet, stretching her arms over her head, "But Korra won't like it."

Asami could see how Korra wouldn't like this plan. She was invading her personal space and Asami knew that Korra liked her personal space. With the help of Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo she had moved the Pai Sho board into Korra's room and got it into a position that left enough room on either side. The children disappeared out the door, leaving Asami alone in Korra's room. The room was sparsely furnished with only a bed, a single bedside table and dresser which left plenty of room for Asami to sit down and set the board.

The sound of the door flying open nearly caused Asami to flinch as she looked up to see Korra standing in the doorway looking like a deer caught in a set of headlights. "Uh..." Korra looked at Asami before looking over her shoulder and calling, "Pema, did you tell Asami where my room was?"

"No, I didn't." Pema's voice spoke from somewhere outside the room. Suddenly, Pema appeared in the doorway and Asami gave a brief wave smiling at her, "But she's here now so why don't you play a game or two."

"Pema..." Korra groaned and the older woman placed a hand on her shoulder before placing a kiss to her temple.

"I'm not about to kick her out of your room for you. If you don't wanna play then don't." Pema continued on her way and Korra let out a frustrated sigh as she entered her room slamming the door closed behind her. Asami watched her collapse onto her bed burying her face in her pillow. "You can leave now."

"Can we at least play a game? I've missed playing you." Asami looked up at Korra who rolled over in the bed with what seemed to be the least amount of energy necessary to complete the action. Her head hung off the bed so that she was looking at Asami upside down.

"Move my pieces for me?" Korra asked.

"Of course." Asami replied.


	7. Blind Dates and Familiar Comforts

Blind dates weren't something that Korra went on. At least not of her own volition. So, the fact that she was currently on one was a minor miracle. It might not have been so bad, given it was a free meal and all, if not for who she was being forced to spend it with.

Tahno Wolf was probably the most arrogant person in existence which was saying something given just how many arrogant a-holes Korra had met in her life. He talked like he was the best thing since sliced bread and acted like all women should want to be with him just because he a had a dick.

"And I said, 'Baby I'm a bender give me a chance and I'll show you just how flexible I can be.'" He then laughed and gave her a look that made Korra want to gag.

It baffled Korra why Bolin thought this was a good idea. Maybe he wanted to help her out of her depressive funk that she had been in for the last month but she had forced herself out of it. If only a little. Spending a month in her room didn't really help Korra feel all that much better but she had figured a month was long enough to sulk.

Korra was good at pretending. Pretending that a month was enough time to feel better. That being alone actually made her feel better when all she was really doing was hiding away so that nobody could see how she really felt.

Over the years, Korra had gotten extremely good at placing a patch over the parts of her that are still too raw and pretending they didn't exist. She had gotten very good at faking smiles and pretending she was fine when she really wasn't.

"I hear you teach bending." Tahno asked, ignoring the food in front of him in place of leaning forward.

"Yeah. What of it?" Korra shoved noodles into her mouth making a point of staring into her bowl instead of at her 'date'.

"Well, maybe you could give some _private_ lessons sometime?" Tahno ended the sentence with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows as if that would help persuade her. It didn't.

She just had to finish eating and then she could leave. Korra found herself wishing that she was on this date with Asami instead of Tahno. As a friend, of course. A friend date with Asami would be so much more enjoyable.

"Well, what do you think? You, me, and a night neither of us will ever forget." He looked so god damned proud of himself.

Korra swallowed and looked him in the eye as she spoke, "I'd rather gouge my own eyes out than have sex with you."

Korra quickly hailed over a waiter asking for a to-go box. The waiter nodded before leaving and Tahno looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression, "What are you doing?"

"Leaving. This was a bad idea." Korra said as the waiter brought her a to-go box and he gave her a pitying expression. Korra quickly placed the rest of her food in the box and pushed her chair back, standing up.

She reached for her jacket when suddenly Tahno grabbed her by her wrist. "Don't you think you're overreacting a bit?"

Korra's body moved on its as she quickly swept her foot under Tahno's, pulling her wrist from his hand as he toppled to the ground. She glared down at him, "No, I don't." Korra pulled on her jacket and grabbed her take out box before storming out of the restaurant. Sadly, this wasn't the worst date she had been on.

Korra found her way to a small hole in the wall coffee shop. The small, worn sign in the window read, 'Opals' and Korra took comfort in the familiar smell of coffee that hit her as she opened the door.

"Welcome to-" The woman behind the counter started to say before she noticed just who had come through the door, "Korra!" The woman moved around the counter, bounding over to Korra and enveloping her in a tight hug. Korra stiffened against the contact before returning the hug. Opal, along with her soulmate, were some of the few people that Korra didn't mind touching her and even if she wasn't Korra wasn't sure she could avoid their hugs with how affectionate they were.

Opal pulled away and looked up at her, "It's been forever. What have you been up to lately?"

Korra gave her a half shrug, "Oh you know the usual. Fell into a month-long depressive episode that I'm still not over and then Bolin set me up on one of the worst dates I've ever been on."

"That bad huh?" Opal said, frowning slightly. Korra nodded running a hand through her hair. "I didn't think it would be that bad." Korra moved around Opal taking a seat in her usual booth. "Want your regular order?" Korra nodded and relaxed into her seat as Opal returned to behind the counter. Korra watched as Opal worked letting the familiarity of it ease her into a more relaxed state of mind. Once done she walked over setting the cup down and sliding into the seat across from her, "One Caffé Mocha with way too much whip cream and chocolate shavings on top."

"Thanks." Korra muttered as she took the cup in her hands and took a small sip of the hot liquid. The coffee burnt her tongue slightly but the whipped cream helped cancel it out. They settled into a comfortable silence. The kind that neither of them felt obligated to fill with mindless chatter. Korra was halfway through her cup when she set it down and asked, "So, what have you been up to lately?"

Opal stretched out, pushing her feet up against Korra's, "Nothing much. Me and Bolin are planning to move in together."

"It's about damn time." Korra muttered as she ran her finger over the rim of her cup collecting the whipped cream that had collected there and licked her finger clean, "You've been dating for nearly three years now and you're only now moving in together."

Opal leaned forward, stretching her arms out in front of her like a cat a smile pulling at her lips, "Yeah well we can only just barely afford one now so..."

"Isn't your mom like rich or something?" Korra asked as she picked up her cup, bringing it up to hide the smirk on her lips.

Opal pushed her feet against Korra's as she said, "Yeah but when I moved out I decided that I didn't want any help. I wanted to make it on my own without my mother's help." Korra set her cup down as Opal laid her head down on her arms, "And besides, me and Bolin have saved up enough that we can afford to rent a place downtown so I don't think we'll need to ask my mom for help."

"It must be nice to have someone like that," Korra muttered only to quickly regret speaking at all.

"Korra..." Opal said, her voice softening and Korra was incredibly thankful that her phone choose that time to speak up from her pocket. Korra fished it out and noticed the notification that appeared on her screen. It was a text from Asami that simply read, _HELP ME!_

"Hey, where'd you get that?" Opal said as she pointed to the phone in Korra's hands who just shrugged.

"It was a gift from Kya." Saying it was a gift was a bit of a stretch as Kya had taken Korra's old phone, a perfectly reasonable flip-phone, and threw it into Yue bay before giving her this "smartphone" as a "gift" saying that she needed to 'get with the times' or whatever.

Korra went to respond to Asami's message when another one popped up, _I'm stuck on the blind date from hell and I need an out._

Korra stared down at the message, an odd feeling building in her chest at the idea of Asami on a date with some random guy. She didn't like it. Korra took a deep breath and typed out, _How can I help?_

The three dots that meant Asami was typing appeared, letting Korra know that she was getting a response, _Just call me and I'll do the rest._

 _Okay._ Korra typed and moved toward the edge of the booth, "I need to make a call." Opal nodded and headed back behind the counter as Korra headed outside. She leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath before pressing the call button and putting the phone to her ear.

* * *

"Then she brought me an olive green ascot instead of the forest green one I asked for and I said, "Honey if you can't tell olive green from forest green I'm gonna have to let you go." Asami's date said and she let out a sigh. She had thought this would be a good idea. Going on a date with someone seemed like a good way to forget about her hopeless crush on Korra. Maybe she would even get lucky and find someone who she clicked with. Someone other than Korra that is. This date, however, hadn't done any of that. In fact, she had spent most of the date wishing she was on it with Korra instead of Wu Hou-Ting. "Good help can be so hard to find."

Asami was on the verge of just getting up and walking away when her phone finally rang with Korra's ringtone and she quickly answered it with much too enthusiasm, "Hey, what do you need?"

"Asami is there anything you need me to do or am I already doing it?" Korra's voice on the other end of the line helped relax Asami's frayed nerves though this only further convinced her of her hopeless crush.

"Really?" Asami said forcing false concern into her voice, "That's not good. Well, thank you for calling me. I'll be right over. Yes. Okay." Asami hung up before Korra could say anything and returned her attention to Wu giving him a disarming smile, "I'm sorry but I have to go. A water pipe burst in my apartment and I have to got tend to it." Asami pushed her seat back as she stood up, "You'll pick up the check, right?" Wu just nodded as Asami pulled on her jacket, grabbed her purse and headed toward the front of Kwong's.

Asami opened the door to her car, sliding into the driver's seat and leaning her head against her steering wheel as she let out a sigh. Her phone rang with the tone she had set specifically for Korra and she pulled it out of her jacket pocket to see the text from her that simply read, _Call me?_ Followed by a series of emoji's that didn't make any real sense in the context of the text. It was kind of adorable just how inept she was at it.

Asami quickly opened her contacts, scrolling down to where Korra's name was bookended by water wave emojis. Was the personalization too much? Asami decided that it probably was but she couldn't really bring herself to care. She clicked on the name and then on the phone icon that appeared before putting the phone to her ear. It had barely rung a time and a half before Korra answered the phone with a quiet, "Hey."

"Hey." Asami leaned her head against the steering wheel, running her free hand through her hair, "Thanks for that out."

"No problem." Korra's voice was warm and kind. It reminded Asami of hot cocoa on a particularly cold night. Comforting and welcome. Korra's laugh caught Asami off guard but she couldn't help but smile.

"What's so funny?" Asami asked and listened as the sounds died off.

"Nothing. I just think its funny how differently we handle bad dates." Korra chuckled and Asami felt jealousy spike in her chest at the idea of Korra on a date with some random guy. She had to force herself to remember that she had just been on a bad blind date.

"Oh and how do you deal with bad blind dates?" Asami said into the phone extremely happy Korra couldn't see the dopey smile that pulled at her lips.

"Usually with physical violence." It was Asami's turn to laugh and Korra was quick to laugh with her. "Now you see why I laughed."

"Yeah." Asami sighed, "Are you back on The Island?" The sound of a car in the background answered her question before Korra had a chance to.

"No. I'm at a coffee shop my friend owns. Do you wanna come hang out?" Asami and had to physically keep from yelling out in affirmation.

"Yeah, that sounds nice." The lack of enthusiasm wasn't exactly a good alternative to an overabundance of enthusiasm. "Text me the address?"

"Sure." Korra went silent and then her phone buzzed with a notification, "You got it?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna hang up so I can drive, okay?"

"Okay." Asami pulled her phone away, seeing the message from Korra as she disconnected the call and let out a sigh as she set her cell into a cup holder. She took a deep breath, trying to collect herself before putting the keys in the ignition and putting her car into reverse. She pulled out of her parking spot and, after putting the car in drive, peeled out of the parking lot heading toward the address Korra had sent her.


	8. A Coffee (Not) Date

Korra watched as a car pulled up under a nearby street lamp and the door opened and Asami stepped out. She smiled and quickly typed out, _See you._ Followed by several waving emoji. She had only recently learned how to use emojis and found herself rather enamored with them even if she didn't quite understand how to use them properly. Asami looked at her phone before looking up and locking eyes with Korra.

She smiled, jogging over before coming to a stop in front of her, "Hey."

Korra couldn't help but smile back as pushed herself up off the wall. "Hey. You got here pretty fast." Asami let out a nervous chuckle and Korra scratched at the back of her head, jerked her thumb at the door and said, "Wanna head inside?"

Asami nodded, "Yeah, lets." Korra moved, opening the door and letting Asami enter first. Korra found herself strangely nervous as she made her way over to her both and couldn't quiet place why. Maybe it was because Asami seemed to be rather nervous and it was affecting how she felt herself. Korra pushed the growing ball of nervous energy down as she slid into the booth watching as Asami did the same.

Opal bounced looking between the two women and quirking a questioning eyebrow at Korra who made a point of avoiding eye contact. Opal sighed and turned her full attention to Asami, "What can I get for you?"

"Uh, can I have a Chai Latte?" She looked up at Opal who gave Asami a sweet smile.

"One Chai Latte coming up." Opal said before heading back around the counter, giving Korra a comically wide-eyed look and mouthing, 'Who is she?' as she did so. Korra rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to Asami who raised a perfect eyebrow at her in question.

"Your friend seems nice," Asami said and there was an uneasiness in her voice that Korra couldn't quite place the source of.

"Yeah. She is. She also happens to make the best coffee in Republic City." Asmai let out an over exaggerated indignant gasp, a smile pulling slightly at her lips.

"Blasphemy. We all know that Coffee Joe's has the best coffee in the city." Korra scoffed at the proclamation. Coffee Joe's was _okay_ but was in no way the best coffee in Republic City.

"Joe's isn't the _best_ coffee. It barely qualifies as _good_ coffee." It was Asami's turn to scoff as she leaned forward a smirk playing on her lips. Any trace of her former unease gone. It was easy to fall into the familiar back and forth of the teasing argument. Neither of them were seriously invested in the topic at hand and you could tell by the smiles on their lips and the way their eyes danced with amusement.

"You're being unneededly harsh. Sure, Joe's isn't the best but its still good coffee and cheap to boot."

"Yeah, and they're open 24/7 which is _just_ great." This conversation had taken an odd sarcastic turn but Korra wasn't bothered that much by it. "I mean, how else am I gonna get a cup of semi-decent coffee at three in the morning."

"Exactly!" Asami said slamming her hands against the table and suddenly they were both laughing. Because really just how quickly this conversation had devolved into a snark-fest was hilarious.

"And here I thought you didn't have a sense of humor," Opal said as she set cups down in front of the two women. Korra just rolled her eyes as she wrapped her hands around her cup and watched Asami did the same. Opal slid into the seat next to Korra and nudged her shoulder, "So, are gonna introduce me to your friend or not?"

"Opal this is Asami. Asami is this Opal." Opal reached out and shook hands with Asami who smiled.

"It's nice to know that Korra has other friends beside me." This caused Opal to let out a small laugh.

"Yeah. I was worried that she didn't know how to make friends." They both laughed and Korra just took a drink from her cup letting out a satisfied hum.

"So, how did you two meet anyway?" Opal asked as Asami took a sip from her own cup.

She smiled slightly as she set her own cup back down, "We meet at a Charity Gala I host every year."

"Tenzin made me go and auction myself off as a Waterbending Master," Korra said and Opal laughed.

"Like anyone can make you do anything." Korra snorted, nearly choking on the hot beverage at the comment. "I mean you're the textbook definition of a stubborn ass."

Asami let out an undignified snort and reached up covering her mouth with her hand. "Fine. So, I went willingly but only because Tenzin begged. It was pitiful." It was Opal who laughed this time.

"Tenzin begging. Now that's something I want to see." Silence fell over the group for a few moments as both Korra and Asami sipped their drinks while Opal messaged somebody on her phone. "Well, Bolin is being stupid and I have to go keep him from doing something regrettable."

She slid out of the booth and as she stood up Korra leaned back, "Are you gonna lock us in here?"

"I'll leave the back door open just lock it when you leave," Opal said as she hung her apron up and grabbed her jacket from behind the counter.

"Key?" Opal tossed a small key at Korra who caught it. She watched as she pulled on her jacket as she practically flew out the door, leaving both of them alone for the first time since Asami had arrived. The silence that settled over them was thick with an awkward tension that Korra couldn't quite place the origin of.

Suddenly, Asami started laughing, "This is like a really awkward first date."

Korra nervous laugh in response, rubbing the back of her neck, "But not like a date-date, right?"

"What!? No! No." Asami quickly corrected, "It just feels that way. I don't know why. Maybe because this is the first time we've hung out outside of our normal routine."

"It is, isn't?" Korra hadn't realized that this was the first time they'd hung out without a Pai Sho board between them. "I think Opal has a board somewhere in the back if you wanna play."

"I'd like that."

Korra smiled sliding out of her seat and disappearing into the back room in search of the Pai Sho board that she knew Opal kept in the back. The back room was meticulously organized which made it incredibly easy to find whatever you might be looking for including the Pai Sho board. She found the board tucked between a box and the end of the shelf and pulled it out. She was about head back out when a thought struck her. Asami had seemed really nervous and Korra got the feeling it might have something to do with their current setting. She bit her lip as she looked down at the board and then back at the door she had just come from. She thought for a short while longer before coming to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, Asami would be more comfortable in a different setting. Was telling a little white lie really that bad? Not if it helped her feel more at ease. So why did she feel guilty as she slowly slid the board back into the shelf and turned on her heel making her way out of the room? "Well, that was a bust." Korra closed the door behind her and moved around the counter as she shrugged, "I couldn't find the board."

"Oh..." Asami said, her shoulders slumping as she looked down at her cup. Korra cleared her throat and scratched the back of her head.

"But, If you still wanna play a game I think I know a place."

Asami leaned forward slightly and spoke her tone not betraying her feelings, "Oh, do you?"

"Yeah. Republic City Park has Pai Sho boards." Korra found that she couldn't really read the expression on Asami's face and found a niggling sense of guilt begin to build in the back of her mind. Why did she feel guilty over something so insignificant? "It's only a couple blocks away so we could walk and talk."

"You know I have a car, right?" Asami laughed and Korra felt a little more at ease but still slightly guilty as she laughed as well.

"Yeah. You do, don't you." Korra watched as Asami slid out of the seat, standing up and started heading toward the front of the room. "Wait, where are you going?"

"To my car. We can take it to the park."

"The front door is locked, remember?"

Asami paused and pursed her lips before heading toward the back. "Come on, Korra." Korra quickly grabbed the key that was still sitting on the table and followed Asami out the back door while pushing the growing sense of guilty further down.

* * *

Asami watched Korra out of the corner of her eye and was suddenly very unsure of just what she was doing. She knew what she was doing but why was another thing altogether. Going to the park in the middle of the night to play Pai Sho wasn't something that Asami had thought she would be doing when she woke up this morning. As she continued to drive she noticed how increasingly uneasy Korra was looking. To others, she might have just seemed disinterested but Asami liked to think she could tell the difference between Korra when she was disinterested and when something was actually bothering her.

As she came to a stop at a red light she turned to look at Korra and noticed _just_ how uncomfortable she looked. She was slumped in the seat, looking out the window while biting her lip. Asami took a deep breath and smiled, "Are you okay, Korra?"

Korra's head jerked up and she looked up at Asami and forced a smile, "Yeah. I'm fine." She looked like she wanted to launch herself from her car.

Asami pressed down on the gas causing the car to lurch back into motion, "If you're fine then why do you look like you wanna throw yourself from the car?" Korra looked away, worrying her lip as her eyes scanned the road. "If you don't want to talk then that's fine I just-"

"I lied!" Korra suddenly yelled and Asami turned to look at her in shock before quickly returning her eyes to the road. "I lied about not being about to find the Pai Sho board. I just thought you seemed nervous and that maybe you'd be less so if we changed location but now I just feel really bad about lying to you about something so stupidly insignificant."

It took Asami a full five seconds before she fully comprehend what Korra had said and she immediately burst out laughing. She had been worried for nothing. Asami pulled up along the side of the road, putting her car into park before she looked at Korra. "That's it?"

"Yes?" Korra looked so unsure of herself as she spoke. "I lied to you."

"Its fine. Your heart was in the right place." Asami undid her buckle and opened her door as she spoke, "Come on. I wanna play Pai Sho in the park at-" She checked the time on the car's dash, "12:15 at night." Asami turned her car off and stepped out into the birsk night air. She watched as Korra did the same before locking her car before shoving her keys into her pocket as she headed toward the park entrance. Korra feel in step beside her as they turned into the park only to find the entrance blocked off with a gate and a keep out sign attached to it. ' _Well shit.'_ Asami looked to Korra opening her mouth to propose an alternative only for the words to die on her tongue when she saw that Korra had already started climbing the gate with one leg on either side as she straddled it. The moment they locked eyes Korra gave her a sheepish smile and swung her leg over the side hopping off the gate onto the park side of the gate.

Korra turned around and smirked at her, her hand on her hips, "Your turn."

"Are you seriously encouraging me to trespass?"

"Oh come on. It's not trespassing if it's a public park."

"Technically it's a city park and we could get fined for trespassing."

"Then we better not get caught."

Asami shook her head, "We better not. I have a reputation to uphold."

"Alright then miss CEO. Think you can handle jumping the gate?"

Asami let out a light-hearted scoff as she began climbing the gate. "I'll have you know that I did plenty of this kind of stuff in my youth."

Korra just laughed as Asami swung her legs over the side and then pushed herself off gate only for her to stumble as she landed. She really wished she wasn't wearing heels. A pair of hands on her shoulders steadied her and she looked up into a pair of crystal blue eyes. "You okay?"

"Heels aren't exactly the best attire for our current activity of choice." Asami smiled, "But other then my poor choice in footwear I'm fine." Korra started walking away from the gate and Asami quickly followed Korra not wanting to get caught trespassing so late at night.

The walk to where the Pai Sho boards were was spent in silence. Asami worried that if they made to much noise they would get caught. Eventually, they came upon the area of the park they were heading and approached one of the stone tables. Asami walked around it taking in the familiar round table with the Pai Sho board painted into stone. Asami ran her hand over the familiar worn pattern and she bit her lip as she tried not to let her emotions show on her face.

"Well, I guess we're out of luck again," Korra said and Asami couldn't even bring herself to look away from it. "Looks like they put the..." Korra trailed off and was silent before asking, "Are you okay?"

Asami reached up wiping away the unshed tears from her eyes, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Korra asked, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Asami nodded trying to push her emotions back down. She thought that she would be over this by now. That she would be able to see the things that reminded her of her father without breaking down by now.

"No, I'm not." She let out a stuttering breath as the tears she had been trying to push down finally escaped down the sides of her face. "I thought I was past this. I thought I could come here and not do," Asami made a vague gesture with her hand before exclaiming, "this!"

Korra gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, "Do you, uh, wanna talk about it?" Asami shook her head wiping the last of her tears from her eyes.

"No. I'm fine." When Korra raised an eyebrow at her Asami actually managed to laugh, "I am. I just," She let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair, "I miss my father."

"Oh." Korra removed her hand from her shoulder and shoved it into the pocket of her jacket. "You sure you don't wanna talk about it?"

"Yeah, I am." Asami started walking away from the table, "Can we walk?"

"Sure." Korra said and the pair began to walk through the darkened park in silence. "Do you wanna talk?" Asami shook her head, Korra nodded and they lapsed back into silence.

As they walked Asami felt like someone was following her. She tried to convince herself that she was just being paranoid as she continued to walk along with Korra. Asami tried to push the paranoia down and ignore the feeling of eyes on her neck. Her paranoia eventually got the better of her as she glanced over her shoulder to see a person in a hoodie following a few steps behind them. Her head snapped forward and she quickly wrapped her arm around Korra's who stiffened at the contact.

"Asami what are you-" Korra started to say only to be cut off just as suddenly.

"We're being followed." Asami murmured doing her best to keep her voice low enough that their tail couldn't hear, "Behind us. Look but don't be obvious about it."

Korra cautiously glanced over her shoulder, noticed the hooded figure and proceeded to look forward and quicken their pace. "Come on." Asami tightened her grip on Korra's arm as they moved quickly through the dark park. They suddenly took a sharp turn and began moving toward the fountain near the center of the small courtyard. Korra steered her around the fountain before pulling herself from Asami's grip. The man appeared out of the dark and Korra put herself between Asami and him quickly bent water out of the fountain. She bent the water at the man's feet, freezing it and then grabbing Asami by her arm and pulling her forward. She pulled her through fountain the water sloshing up against her calf as they moved. Asami chanced a glance over her shoulder to see the man crouching on the ground an orange glow lighting up the darkness. They jumped out of the fountain and started booking it back the way they had come. When they came to the gate they stopped chest heaving from their dead sprint across the park.

Asami looked up at Korra who was bent over, hands on her knees with her hair was a mess and Asami's was probably worse. She looked up at Korra, a smile pulling at her lips and a laugh escaped her lips as she collapsed to the ground. She noticed that somewhere along the way she had lost her shoes but she really couldn't be bothered by it. She could always buy more shoes. Their laughter died off and they fell back into silence until Korra spoke up.

"We should probably get going. I dunno how long it'll take to thaw himself out."

Asami responded by pushing herself up to her feet as Korra did the same. Korra quickly jumped back over the gate and turned to wait for Asami, who found it much easier to climb now that she wasn't wearing a pair of 4-inch heels. They walked back to the car and Asami stuck her hand in her jacket pocket in search of her keys only for panic to surge through her when she didn't find them. She checked her other pocket only to find they weren't there either. Panic continued to rush through her as her mind began to rush through all the possibilities. Had the keys fallen out as they ran? Had she dropped then without realizing it? Absentmindedly she checked her front left pocket of her pants and let out a sigh of relief when her fingers touched her keys.

She quickly unlocked the car and both women got inside. Asami had just turned the car on when a thought struck her. Where was she going to take Korra? Was she just going to drop her back off at Opal's or was she going to drop her off at the harbor? Asami took a deep breath and, after gathering all the confidence she could muster, asked, "Hey Korra, do you maybe wanna spend the night at my place?" Asami wished she'd sounded more confident. That she didn't sound so unsure of herself.

She glanced at Korra out of the corner of her eye, who smiled as she quietly said, "I'd like that."


	9. When Morning Comes pt1

Korra let out a groan as light fell across her eyes and she buried her face into the side of the couch pulling the comforter over her head. She rolled over and tried to fall back asleep but found that she couldn't quite fall back into a slumber which set her into a bad mood already. Korra hated mornings and she hated waking up. For more reasons then she cared to explain. Reluctantly, she sat up and found herself momentarily confused as to where exactly she was. It took her longer than it should have to remember what had happened last night and where she was by default. She collapsed back into the couch letting out a heavy sigh. "Of course. I'm at Asami's." No wonder she couldn't fall back to sleep. Korra had a thing about sleeping in strange places. Mainly that she tended not to sleep when in strange places. Or at least had trouble sleeping.

Typically when she stayed in a new place she only got a few hours of sleep at best. She was kind of amazed she had slept through the night but then again there hadn't been much night to sleep through. She let her eyes drift back closed hoping to maybe find a few more minutes of sleep but eventually gave up on the idea. Lethargically, she got to her feet and began moving around the large apartment. It was mostly furnished with modern-looking furniture most of which looked like they had barely been used. Korra took her time making her way toward the balcony to do her morning stretches.

Korra stepped out into the brisk morning air, stretching her arms over her head and tilting her body to the sides while groaning. Asami's couch wasn't the most comfortable couch in the world but when compared to the beds on Air Temple Island, which were like sleeping on two-by-fours, it was a breath of fresh air. She took a deep breath continuing to stretch and then began practicing her Waterbending forms. It was something that she did unconsciously and even though she was a master it never hurt to continue to practice the basics. After all, practice made better.

Korra got so lost in the movements of her forms that she didn't hear the door open or Asami step out onto the balcony. It was only once she had completed her third run through and turned to head back inside that she noticed Asami leaning against the doorway, a playful smirk on her face. Korra jumped internally but kept her outside calm and collected, "I didn't see you there."

"I could tell." Asami pushed herself up off the frame and moved closer to Korra who took a small, unconscious step backwards, "I find bending fascinating so I couldn't help but watch you practice."

"Bending isn't all that," Korra said off-handedly as she rubbed the back of her neck.

Asami chuckled, "Yeah well that's because you can do it." Asami eyed Korra in a way that felt oddly predatory, "You can keep practicing. I just like watching."

Korra felt her cheeks heat up slightly and she wasn't even sure why. "Actually I just finished."

"Oh." The smirk fell from Asami's face and she crossed her arms over her chest, "So, do you have any plans today?"

Korra placed her hands on her hips and turned to look out over the city, "Not really." Korra took a deep breath, letting it out before turning to look at Asami, "I think breakfast would be a good start."

"Sounds good." Asami turned and moved toward the open door, stopping in the doorway before glancing over her shoulder, "But I think you should know that I can't cook." Her tone didn't match her words but Korra decided it didn't matter.

"That's okay I can." Korra followed Asami back inside, closing the door behind her. They headed toward the kitchen, Asami taking a seat at the bar while Korra moved through the kitchen. She opened the fridge and glanced inside expecting to find it fully stocked but instead found that it was nearly empty. Korra furrowed her brows as she stared into the barely stocked fridge before closing it and opening it the freezer which was just as empty. Korra screwed her face into an expression of confusion as she opened and closed the cupboards finding that, you guessed it, they were empty as well. "Well then," Korra muttered, placing her hands on her hips as she tried to think of what she could make with the limited supplies.

Suddenly Asami laughed, "Sorry. I should have told you I don't have a lot of food." Korra turned to look at Asami, "I don't cook very often so I tend not to buy food all that much."

"Then what do you eat?"

"Fast food and take out mostly." Asami smiled shyly, looking rightly ashamed.

"Asami," Korra said in a chiding tone, fixing her with a look that one would give a misbehaving child that made her sink into her seat.

"I know. I know." Asami said, placatingly. "I'm just so busy all the time that I don't have time to cook most of the time."

Korra ran her hands over her face. She wasn't exactly fond of fast food or take out. Mainly because it lacked any nutritional value and Korra didn't understand why you'd buy shitty junk food when you could cook something just as good that was much healthier for you. "You know cooking doesn't take that long right."

"But I'm always so busy and tired when I get home from work."

"It only takes like 15 minutes to make pasta with meat sauce. It's not that hard Asami."

"I suck at cooking."

"It's not hard. You're just making excuses." Korra fixed Asami with another look and said, "I can teach you if you need me to."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah. Like I said it's not that hard. Even an idiot can make edible pasta."

"Well, then I might be an outlier since I'm a certifiable genius and I still manage to fuck up pasta."

"You're serious?"

"Completely." Korra quirked a brow at the CEO who looked rightly ashamed. Korra pulled her hands over her face letting out a groan.

"Okay. Okay. We can work with this." Asami's eyes widened at the comment.

"You'll teach me? Even though I'm probably the worst cook in the history of forever?"

"Well, the only way to get better is to practice. After all, practice makes better."

"Don't you mean practice makes perfect?"

"I've never been fond of the saying practice makes perfect."

"Why?"

"I just don't think it's right to make it seem like it's possible to be perfect. We're human and no matter how hard we try we can never be perfect. The best we can achieve through practice is better."

"That's...an interesting point of view," Asami said as she leaned forward slightly, "So, are you saying you're not perfect then? Because I beg to differ."

Korra let out a nervous laugh, unsure what to make of the comment. "I'm not perfect. Far from it." She turned back to the fridge, clasping her hands together, "Okay, so let's see what I can make."

"Ya know," Asami started, "We could just order something. I'll go shopping later so you can make something properly."

Korra scoffed, "If I can't make something edible out of this then I have no right to teach you how to cook."

Asami laughed, "Perfectionist much?"

"You can be a perfectionist and not be perfect," Korra said as she opened the fridge, "It's perfectly okay to _want_ to be perfect but there's no way you can achieve it." She pulled out a half-empty carton of eggs and a nearly packet of ham. "The goal in life is to come to terms with the fact that nobody is perfect." She set the two items on the counter and began looking through the cabinets.

"That's, um, wow."

Korra eventually found what she was looking for and placed the bowl on the counter, "Take that how you want but I think a big part of accepting yourself is accepting your flaws." It was something Korra still had trouble with even after all these years. She cracked the eggs into the bowl before fishing a fork out of one of the drawers. She began whisking it, "Can you get a pan out?"

"Oh, sure." Asami responded and stood up moving around the counter and pulling a pan out, placing it on the stove, "Here." She leaned against the counter, crossing her arms over her chest. Korra set the bowl down, turned on the oven and began to tear the ham into little pieces tossing them into eggs. She gave the eggs one final stir before she poured them into the now hot pan. The pair stood in silence as Korra scrambled the eggs with a spatula.

"Do you have any bread?"

"Um, maybe?" Asami mumbled as she began rummaging through the cabinets, "No. I don't."

"Of course you don't," Korra muttered as she turned off the heat and moved the pan off it. "Can you get a-" She trailed off suddenly when Asami set two bowls next to the stove. "Thanks..."

Korra quickly moved the eggs into the bowls and handed them to Asami who placed them on the counter. They both moved around the counter taking a seat at the bar, a single chair between them. They ate in relative silence the only sound that of their forks against the bowls and muffled chewing.

"That was really good," Asami said with a satisfied sigh, pushing the bowl away from her.

"I'm glad." Korra stood up and took both the bowls placing them in the sink. She was about to start washing them when a distinct ringing emanated from somewhere in the apartment. It took Korra a few moments to recognize it as her ringtone but once she had she quickly moved over to where she had tossed her jacket when she had arrived last night. She fumbled for it before eventually pulling it out and seeing the name of the person who was calling, 'Lin'. Korra narrowed her eyes at the name. Lin didn't call her unless she had a reason and they usually weren't good ones. She answered it and pressed it to her ear, "Hello?"

"Korra." Lin gruffed from the other end of the line. "I need you to come into the station."

"What for?"

"I'll explain once you're here." She could hear the sound of shuffling paper. Korra rolled her eyes.

"I'd really prefer an explanation beforehand."

Of course, Lin ignored her completely, "If you need me to, I can send an officer to your location to bring you here."

Korra rolled her eyes at Lin's ever-present no-nonsense tone of voice. "Fine. Don't tell me." She paused before adding as an afterthought, "I'll take a bus so please don't send someone." She knew Lin well enough to know that she totally would send a uniformed officer to pick her up if she thought she wouldn't come in. It's just how Lin was.

"Good." Lin gruffed before hanging up without even saying goodbye. Korra pulled her phone away and looked down at it with a raised eyebrow.

She'd known Lin her whole life and this was perfectly in line with her character but that didn't make it any less frustrating. "A goodbye would have been nice." She muttered as she picked up her jacket, pulling it on and turning to look at Asami who had apparently watched the entire exchange. "I have to go. Something's come up."

"Okay," Asami whispered and Korra flashed her a smile.

"I had fun last night. Maybe we could do it again?"

"Yeah. Maybe."

Korra nodded and walked over to where she left her shoes. "I'll, uh, text you later? Cool?"

"Yeah." Korra walked over to the elevator, stepping inside and waving to Asami.

She pressed the down arrow and said as the doors closed, "See ya."

Korra glared up at the police station, grumbling to herself as she made her way inside. She got a few curious glances from the people inside as she made her way up to the counter. She placed her hands on the counter, tapping absentmindedly as she waited for the officer to realize she was waiting. Eventually, he noticed her and walked over, "Can I help you?"

"I need to see Lin."

"Who?"

"Chief Beifong," Korra said shortly

"What's the reason for your visit?"

"My reason is that she called me and refused to tell me why. So, I need to speak with her."

"I'm sorry but without a reason, I can't grant you-"

"I'll take it from here Officer Genji," Lin spoke up from behind Korra who turned to see the chief of police standing stiffly, her hands clasped back in an authoritative manner. The officer nodded and went back to working on the files. Lin turned on her heel and gave a follow me gesture, "Come on." Korra followed Lin down the hall and toward the interview rooms. They entered the cold unfeeling room with a metal table and two very uncomfortable looking chairs. She watched Lin take a seat in the one with its back facing the two-way mirror. She gestured to the other seat, "Take a seat."

"I'd prefer to stand." Korra crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall, glaring at the Detective. "Now, can you tell me why I'm here?" Lin let out a huff and opened the folder pulling a piece of paper out. She slid it toward Korra who stepped forward looking down at the police sketch of her face. She furrowed her brows as she picked up the sketch, "Care to explain?"

Lin leaned forward gesturing to the seat once more, "Take a seat and I'll tell you."

Korra pulled the chair out and collapsed into it, pushing the paper back at her, "Explain Lin."

She glanced down at folder flipping through the papers, "Where were you last night between 12 and 1 am?"

Korra crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Lin, "What does it matter?"

"Answer the question Korra." Lin rebuffed gruffly, crossing her own arms over her chest.

Korra sighed, "I was at your niece's coffee shop."

"If I call her will she confirm this?"

"Lin," Korra uncrossed her arms and leaned forward, "Will stop treating me like a common criminal and tell me why the fuck you wanted me to come in?"

"I have it on good authority that you and someone else were trespassing in Republic City Park between 12 and 1 am last night." Lin uncrossed her arms as well and fixed Korra with a glare that she probably meant to be intimidating but Korra just found it infuriating. The fact that Lin thought that she could intimidate her into admitting to whatever it was she thought she did.

"Whose authority?"

"An eyewitness who was there." It didn't take a genius to put the pieces together and realize who it was that had reported her and Asami for trespassing. "He was unable to identify the other person with you. I need you to identify the other person."

"No."

"No?" Lin quirked an eyebrow at Korra, "You know if you don't comply I can charge you with obstruction of justice."

"I'd like to see you try." Korra scoffed, rolling her eyes. Lin stood up and moved toward the door. Her hand was one the knob when Korra spoke up, a bit of panic leaking into her voice, "Oh come on Lin. Who are you gonna believe? Some random guy or me?"

She glanced over her shoulder, "I believe the evidence and right now the evidence says that your lying right to my face." Lin opened the door, "So unless you decide to stop lying I'm going to believe the random guy who _didn't_ lie to me."

After a short moment of inner contemplation, Korra let out an agitated sigh and said, "Fine. I'll tell you who was with me." She watched as Lin closed the door and returned to her seat. Korra crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back in her chair, "If I tell you who else was with me you have to promise to keep them out of the final report."

"I promise." Lin gruffed and Korra narrowed her eyes at the detective unconvinced of the vow.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Now tell me who you were with."

Korra let out a heavy sigh, "Asami Sato."

Lin quirked an eyebrow at a Korra, the edge of lip turning slightly upwards, "As in _the_ Asami Sato? CEO of _Future Industries_?" Korra nodded and Lin leaned back in her chair letting out a slow whistle, "I can see why you'd want to keep her out of the report."

"Yeah. So, you can write me a ticket and fine me but keep her name out of it."

Lin nodded as she pushed herself to her feet, the chair scraping against the floor, "Come with me and we can get this sorted out." Korra stood up, shoving her hands in her pockets as she followed Lin out the door.

Korra filled out the paperwork, paid her fine and bid the detective farewell before leaving the station. She walked out into the bright sun, squinting up at it, shading her eyes with her hands. She began moving toward the rundown bus stop when her phone rang. She fished it out of her jacket pocket and noticed the familiar name on the screen. Sliding her finger across the screen she pressed it to her ear and said with a smile, "Hey Asami."


	10. When Morning Comes pt2

Asami sat in her office trying to focus on work and failing miserably at it. Every few minutes she would check her phone looking to see if Korra had texted her yet only to feel a wave of disappointment when she saw that she had no new messages. You'd think she would eventually get the message and focus one hundred percent of her mind on the paperwork but her eyes kept being drawn to her phone where it sat, screen down, to her right. The irrational part of Asami's brain wondered if Korra really would text her or not but the rational part knew that she was probably just busy doing whatever it was that had come up. She continued looking over the contracts that she needed to approve and sign but she could tell that her wandering mind was going to make that incredibly hard. The knock at her door was a godsend as she was able to put the current document that she had been pretending to read for the past ten minutes down, "Come in." Li stuck her head in the door, quickly finding Asami under the pile of paperwork.

"Your 9 o'clock is here."

Asami began looking through the papers for her planner, "Who?"

"Mayor Raiko," Li spoke and Asami's head shot up and she shot a glare at her secretary who shrunk under the intense look.

"That's today?" Asami said, Her tone sharp.

"Um, yes? He's waiting in the lobby right now..."

"Shit." Asami muttered as she continued to franticly shift through the piles of paper on her desk. "You can send him in. Wouldn't want to keep the Mayor waiting."

Li nodded, "Right away Miss Sato." She closed the door and Asami was left to continued looking for the proposal that the Mayor had submitted a week earlier all the while cursing under her breath.

The door flew open with a bang causing Asami to jump and look up to see Raiko standing there looking characteristically smug. "Hello, Miss Sato. Glad you finally decided to see me." God could he be any more entitled.

"My apologies but as you can see I am a busy person and I'd expect our esteemed mayor to understand that." Asami said with a smile, keeping her tone light and pleasant. It wouldn't do to burn bridges with the Mayor of Republic City.

"Have you had time to look over my proposal?"

"No."

"No? It's been a week."

Asami placed her hands on her hips, glaring up at Raiko, "Well as I said I am a busy person and yours isn't the only proposal I have gotten. I will look over it tonight and send your secretary an email any revisions I think need to happen."

Raiko seemed to mull over this proportion for a few moments before nodding, "I want to know your thoughts within the next few days. Understood?"

"I'll get it done as fast as I can. That's all I can promise." Asami rebutted and Raiko grunted.

"Fine." Before turning on his heel and leaving her office, slamming the door closed behind her. Once Asami was alone she returned to searching frantically for the proposal only becoming more frantic when she couldn't find it. It had to be here somewhere. Unless...

Quickly she dug her phone out from the pile of files and rung up Li who quickly answered with a chipper, "Yes Miss Sato?"

"Do I have any appointments for the next two hours?" She said a little too panicked.

There was silence on the other end as Li looked up her schedule, "Um, your next one is at 12. Why?"

"I need to run home and look for something. If they come in and I'm still gone tell them I will be back as soon as possible. Okay?"

"Alright Miss Sato..." She sounded a bit unsure but Asami didn't have time to reassure her that she was alright.

Asami stood up, grabbing her coat and making sure she had her keys before heading out of her office. The drive home took about 25 minutes on what should have been a 10-minute drive as every single stoplight seemed to want to turn red as she approached. Eventually, she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment and climbed out of her car and jogged toward the building. She pushed the door open and quickly walked toward the elevator. After calling it down to her she began tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the elevator doors to open. When they did she jumped on and jammed her thumb into up arrow. The doors closed much too slowly for Asami's taste and as the elevator began moving upward she wondered if it had always been this slow. She continued to tap her foot impatiently until the doors opened in her apartment and she ran inside.

She nearly ran toward her office, which was where she kept all the files she brought home and began looking through them for the mayor's proposal. It had to be here. It had to be. She shifted through them until she noticed the file with Raiko's name at the top of the page. She let out a heavy sigh as she pulled the proposal out from under the other files. She tucked it under her arm and headed out of apartment and back toward her office.

X

Asami managed to make it back to her office by 10:30 and practically collapsed into her chair before she began looking over the proposal. It was a proposal for having Future Industries to help with modernizing the public transport system as part of his campaign. She could see some flaws already but nothing she couldn't point out in an email. She opened her email and quickly began drafting one outlining the flaws to Raiko's secretary. She was nearly finished with the outline and was about to fill in the details when her phone buzzed and without thinking picked it up expecting to see Korra's name on the screen but instead, it was simply a notification letting her know that she had a doctors appointment tomorrow. She let out a sigh before wondering if it would hurt to call her. I mean she had said she would text but she hadn't. So she could call her and make the excuse that she was worried. Yeah, that made sense. She would buy that.

She picked up her phone and quickly opened Korra's contact pressing the call button before pressing it to her ear. It rang once, twice, three times before Korra picked up. "Hey, Asami."

"H-hey." She mentally berated herself for the nervousness that emanated from her words. "What's up?"

"The sky, the sun, the clouds."

"Korra!" Asami admonished, "I meant with you. What are you up too?"

Korra laughed, "I know I know." The sound of cars could be heard on the other line, "I just got done doing..." Korra trailed off slightly before adding, "Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Asami asked, leaning forward on her desk.

"Just stuff," Korra said and Asami heard what sounded like the breaks of a bus in the background, "One moment, 'Sami." Korra muttered and Asami waited, listening as Korra stepped on the bus and paid the fair. "Alright, I'm back."

"So, where are you going?" Asami asked, hoping she didn't come off as desperate.

"To my dojo. I need to make sure everything's ready for the Earthbending lessons today."

"Earthbending?" Asami laughed, "But you're a Waterbender?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't exactly run a bending dojo if I didn't teach the other two elements now could I."

"I guess not." Asami drawled frowning slightly, "How do you teach Earthbending if you can't do it?" For some reason this caused Korra to laugh which caused Asami to feel like an idiot.

"I don't teach it. I just have to make sure the dojo is ready for Bolin's when he has his lesson today."

"Oh." Asami felt stupid that she had assumed that Korra would be teaching the class and not an actual Earthbender. "That probably makes more sense." Asami let out an embarrassed laugh.

"I meant what I said this morning."

"Huh?" Asami said and immediately felt like even more of an idiot.

"That I had fun last night and I'd be up for doing it again," Korra said and Asami was thankful for a topic to latch onto.

"I did too but I'd rather not make a habit out of trespassing on city property."

"Yeah." Korra laughed nervously, "Me neither." Asami was about to speak up when Korra beat her to the punch, "I was more thinking we could get coffee again and if we go earlier we could probably make it to the park while it's still open. Or we could just play at the shop?"

"I would like that a lot but I don't know if I want just get coffee again," Asami said, a smile pulling at her lips.

"Oh..." Korra said, sounding downtrodden, "So, you don't want to hang out?"

"What? No, no. I was just saying I don't know If I want to get coffee again and to be honest I'm kind of Pai Sho'd out."

"Oh," Korra said again, this time sounding thoughtful. "So what do you want to do?"

"Well..." Asami drew out the word suddenly of what it was she wanted to do until she remembered something that she had been wanting to do for ages but had kept putting off for one reason or another, "There is this movie I've been wanting to see. Maybe we could go together?"

"What kind of movie is it?"

"A romance. I saw the trailer and have been wanting to see it since."

"Oh." Korra didn't sound as excited as Asami had hoped she would. "Is that the only one you want to see?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I'm just not a big fan of romance is all." Korra dismissed and Asami wasn't sure if she liked it. "How much do you want to see it?"

"A lot. The trailer looks interesting and most of the recent reviews are good." Asami hoped she could convince Korra to go with her. There was something Asami didn't like about going to movies, especially romantic ones, alone. It made her feel like a lonely old lady more than it probably should of.

"Fine. I'll go without." Asami had to physically stop herself from pumping her fist and saying yes under her breath. "On one condition."

"Oh? And what is that?"

"I get to choose where we go out to eat afterward. It's only fair after all."

"Eat? I didn't say anything about food."

"Yeah well, dinner and a movie is how people typically do these things right?"

"Yeah. I guess it is." Asami said, her tone thoughtful. "How about we take turns?"

"Turns?"

"Like, you can pick where we eat this time but next time you can pick the movie and I'll pick where we eat?"

Korra was silent for a while as she mulled over the proposition, "Sure, as long as you pick a place I can actually afford." Korra finally said with a laugh.

Asami laughed as well, "I will."

"Cool. So when do you wanna go?" The sound of the buses breaks was muffled slightly and Asami wondered if Korra had reached her stop.

"I was thinking maybe next Friday? Then it won't hurt too much if we stay out a little later then planned. Sound good?"

"Yeah. See you, Friday." Korra said.

"Yeah see you then," Asami said and Korra hung up. Asami was caught off guard by just how quickly she had hung up but it was probably a good idea since she really needed to finish the email to Raiko's assistant.

Asami set her phone to the side and threw herself back into her work with a renewed vigor.

* * *

Hey, everyone Duck here letting you all know I'm gonna try and update this fic Bi-weekly(Every other week) I might fall behind a bit sometimes but I will try and keep with a schedule somewhat from now on. Hope you stick with me through it.


	11. Dinner and a Movie

Korra sat on a bench outside the Cinema she and Asami had agreed to see 'From your soul to mine' the name of which itself made Korra inwardly cringe. It just screamed shitty romance. Now, not all romances were shitty. Some were actually quite good, according to the internet at least. But Korra didn't tend to judge romance movies on what other people thought of them as she had already made up her mind a long while ago. But if asked to justify her hate for them she would simply say that all romance movies were exactly the same. Same plot, same characters, same conflicts, same everything.

Now to say that just romantic movies fell to these shortcomings would be wrong. It was more that these flaws were more obvious in movies of the romance genre but those in the action and horror genre fell prey to them as well. It was really just that Korra utterly loathed romance movies and how cliched and preachy all of them were. They all tried to shove the same message down the viewer's throats. Soulmates were great and all your problems would _magically disappear_ when you meet yours. Korra hated the concept that everything would be better once you meet you soulmate. Maybe it was that the concept of soulmates had long ago lost the allure that it held for the rest of society.

She could only sit in silence while a movie tried to shove its idiotic message down her throat for so long before she wanted to kill herself. Well, more than she already did. She really hoped this movie wouldn't be _too_ long.

"Hey, Korra." Korra's head jerked up to see Asami walking toward her looking like some kind of model. She wore a black and red leather jacket that hugged her curves in all the right ways and a pair of tight-fitting black jeans that also hugged her legs in much the same way as her jacket. Her face was immaculately painted with red lips, light purple eyelids and a light blush across her cheeks. She got feeling that she had dressed up for something that Korra wasn't aware of.

"He-hey, Asami." Korra furrowed her brows wondering why she had stuttered the way she had.

"You're early."

"No, You're late," Korra smirked, any uncertainties she had felt began to wash away. She stood up and upon doing so realized that Asami must be wearing heels as she had to crane her head up to look at Asami in the eyes. She was at least a good head taller than her now. "We were supposed to meet here at 3:30. It's nearly 4."

Asami furrowed her brows as she checked her watch and Korra watched a look of realization appear across her face which was quickly replaced by one of panic, "We're gonna be late."

"The movie doesn't start until 4:30 Asami. We're _fine_."

"I don't want to miss the previews." Asami said and began pushing Korra toward the Cinema with a sudden urgency. "Come on move your butt." Korra laughed and pushed back against Asami's hands causing the CEO to groan, "K~orra! Come on. Move!"

"What's the Rush? It's just the previews." Korra laughed

"Just the previews?" Asami cried out in indignation stopping in her tracks and Korra turned to look at her. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring at Korra. "Just the previews!?

Korra laughed, "Well, yeah, they're just previews for movies that you'll eventually see elsewhere. I don't get what all the fuss is about."

"I just like seeing them, okay? Can we please hurry?" Asami pleaded and Korra threw her head back letting groan.

"Ugh! Fine." She stomped toward the entrance of the theater like a petulant child. Korra had secretly hoped that she could subtly convince Asami to see something else but alas it seemed that she was dead set on this movie and Korra really couldn't understand why. She had caved and watched the trailer hoping that it would surprise her but of course, it ended up being just as asinine and cliche as every other soulmate-centric romance movie out there. But she had already agreed to see it so here she was getting ready to sit through 130 minutes of hell.

As they approached the counter so Asami could by the overpriced tickets, yet another reason she didn't like going to the movies, she took a deep breath preparing herself for the hell she was going to have to sit through.

Asami turned to her and handed her a ticket, "Do you want anything from the concession?"

Korra gave a dismissive wave as she moved toward the theatre, "Just get me whatever."

"Okay," Asami responds as Korra walked out of earshot. She made her way to theatre number 5 and found a seat among quickly filling seats. She watched as the beginning of the previews began playing Asami fell into the seat next to her.

"Here. I bought some m&m's for us to share." Asami said handing Korra a box of m&m's before turning her attention to the screen. Korra let out a sigh closing her eyes and began meditating in an attempt to go anywhere else but where she was.

* * *

Asami watched as the last of the credits rolled across the screen and she let our a satisfied hum as she pushed herself to her feet. Stretching her hands over her head groaning as she did so. She turned to look at Korra finding her still asleep. She let out a sigh as she gently shook Korra back into consciousness causing her to jerk looking around frantically.

"Wha? She muttered before eventually looked up into Asami's eyes, "Is it over?"

"Yeah." Asami nodded and Korra let out a sigh pushing herself to her feet stretching herself as well before moving toward the stairs. Asami quickly followed after her exiting the Theatre "That movie was-"

"Horrible."

"I thought it was-"

"The worst thing I've ever seen."

"Korra, you slept through nearly the entire movie," Asami said, giving Korra a look of confusion and annoyance.

"I wasn't sleeping. I was meditating. There's a difference."

"Oh is there now?"Asami quirked an eyebrow at Korra who just gave a half shrug.

"Yeah. There is." Asami could tell that this bore no argument and that Korra wasn't in the mood for friendly banter.

"So," Asami said, changing the subject, "Where do you want to go to eat?"

This seemed to make Korra relax a little and she smiled a little, "Have you ever been to Narook's?"

"No, I haven't. Is it any good?" Asami asked as they walked out of the Cinema and toward her car. Korra let out horrified gasp.

"Are they good? Are they good?" Korra asked and Asami was glad that some of the liveliness had returned to her tone. "Narook's makes the best Southern Water Tribe Cuisine in all of Republic City."

"I've never had Southern Water Tribe food. Is it good?" Asami asked as she unlocked the door and climbed inside.

"Is it good?" Korra said as she climbed into the passenger side, "Narook's Seaweed noodles are the best. I mean, they aren't the same as the ones you can get in the actual southern water tribe but their damn near close."

Asami turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking space, "Well, I'll have to be the judge of that."


	12. Differing Opinions

They arrived at Narooks in a little under 30 minutes and Korra was out of her seat in moments, finding herself more excited then she thought she would be. She hadn't been to Narook's years and the idea of having a taste of home filled Korra with a happiness she hadn't felt in a long while. Asami climbed out and raised an eyebrow at Korra. "This is Narook's?"

"Yep. I'm buying you a bowl of seaweed noodles." Korra said as she nearly skipped toward the door Asami following her at a slightly calmer pace.

"Seaweed noodles? That's a thing?"

"Yes, and they're amazing. I mean, Narook's aren't as good traditional water tribe noodles but they're the best you can get around here."

"You used to live in the South Pole, right?"

"Yep. Born and raised." Korra said with a popped 'P' as the entered the restaurant and the smell of authentic southern Water Tribe food filled her nostrils. "Come on. We can seat ourselves."

"How long have you lived in Republic City?" Asami asked as she took a seat across from Korra in the seat.

Korra scratched the side of her face as she hummed slightly, "70-80 years." Asami's eyes widened slightly for a brief moment before returning to normal. "Is something wrong?"

Asami rubbed the back of her neck, avoiding her eyes, "It's nothing. It's just that would make you older than me. Haha." Asami ran a hand through her hair, obviously embarrassed.

"Oh is that all? It shouldn't matter after all I'm-" Korra cut herself off upon realizing what she was about to say. She was glad she had caught her herself but now what did she say to fill the blank, "After all, I'm not really that old." God, lying to Asami like that hurt more then she had expected but she couldn't tell her the truth. She couldn't tell anybody the truth.

"How old are you?" Asami asked, a bit of the awkward tension having dissipated from her.

"Come on now. You can't just ask a girl that. It's not right." Korra laughed hoping what she had said would move the conversation away from the topic at hand.

Asami opened her mouth, looking like she was about to about to continue talking when they're waitress approached them, "What can I get you two?"

"Oh, um..." Asami finally looked down at the menu and found herself drawing up a blank. She didn't recognize any of the items on the menu and none of them sounded particularly appetizing.

"Do you need a few more moments to look over the menu?" The waitress asked looking between the two women.

"Oh not at all. We'll have two orders of Seaweed Noodles please." The waitress nodded and looked between them.

"And to drink?"

"Two glasses of southern fire waters if you will." The waitress nodded and turned heading back toward the kitchen.

"Fire water?"

"Its a popular drink in the South Pole. I hope its okay that I ordered for you?"

"Oh no, it's fine." Asami smiled and they lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. "So, what did you think of the movie?"

"Oh, I hated it." Korra didn't even hesitate to voice her opinion causing Asami to look down at her hands in her lap.

"Oh, I rather liked it," Asami muttered, avoiding eye contact with Korra.

"And that's fine but I absolutely despise romance movies. They're cliche, annoying, and completely flawed."

"Harsh much?"

"I don't think so."

Once again they lapsed into silence neither sure what to say, "Well, can you at least pretend to want to talk about it and tell me what you _didn't_ like about it."

Korra let out a sigh, "Fine." She ran a hand through her hair, "It was so bad that I slept through the entire thing."

"Ha! I knew you were sleeping!" Asami yelled, slamming her hand against the table.

Korra ignored that little outburst, "All soulmate stories in movies deal in the same, cliche troupes and storylines."

"Defend your stance, why do you think that?" Asami said, leaning back in her chair crossing her arms over her chest.

Korra let out a huff, "All of them have the same plot. Guy meets girl. The girl has a shit life. They turn out to be soulmates. Girls life magically gets better and they live happily ever after." Korra's voice was filled with unhidden venom. "It's annoying how they portray soulmates as this thing that can magically fix anything. That's not how it works in the real world."

"That's the point Korra. It's wish fulfillment." Asami leaned forward, "Do you not understand that movies are a form of escapism?"

"I understand but I just really hate romance movies." Korra wasn't backing down from her stance. Just when it looked like Asami was about to continue trying to change her mind their waitress appeared at their table.

"Your drinks." She said, placing the two drinks in front of the two of them and flashing them a smile, "Your food will be out momentarily."

"Alright." Korra flashed a smile back at her watching as she disappeared back toward the kitchen once more. Korra turned her attention toward Asami as she took the glass and took a gulp only to gag.

"That's Alcohol." She gagged setting the cup down, wiping her mouth. She shook her head, squeezing her eyes closed, "Shit, that's strong."

"I thought it was obvious. And it has to be strong to keep you warm in the south." Korra took a small sip from the glass.

"Korra?" Bolin's voice echoed from across the restaurant and she turned to see him walking over toward the two of them. "What are you doing here?"

"Eating dinner?" Korra quirked an eyebrow at him as his eyes darted between the two women.

"So," Bolin clasped his hands behind his back, "Are you two on a date?"

"No."

"Yes"

"Ohhh." Asami glanced at Korra who avoided eye contact, "I'm just gonna go..." Bolin pointed his thumbs over his shoulder as he slowly walked away.

"This isn't a date, is it?" Asami asked looking down at the bowl of noodles.

"Um, no. It's not." Korra let out an uneasy laugh as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously, "I'm sorry if I said or did something to make you think that."

"No, it's fine. I probably shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

They fell into a very uncomfortable silence neither willing to speak up and break it. They sat in silence until the waitress arrived setting the two bowls in front of them and asked, "Can I get anything else for you two?"

"Can I get a water?" Asami asked and the waitress smiled and nodded.

"Of course." The waitress disappeared and Korra picked up the chopsticks pulling them apart and began shoving the noodles in her mouth. They ate in silence the only break in it is when the waitress brought out Asami's water. Korra glanced up at Asami as she took tentative bites of her food and couldn't help but wonder why she had assumed this was a date. She chanced a glance around noticing that there were a couple tables of couples sharing meals on what Korra had to assume were dates. She could see why Bolin had assumed they were on a date but why Asami had thought they were on a date?

* * *

Asami hesitantly picked at the noodles in her bowl felling incredibly embarrassed about how wrong she was. She put a chopstick full in her mouth and was shocked at the burst of flavor that spread across her taste buds. She chewed letting out a low moan of pleasure.

"You like it?" Korra asked shyly and Asami quickly swallowed what she had in her mouth giving Korra a nod.

"Yeah, it's good." She smiled at Korra, "Better then I thought it would be."

Just then the waitress appeared placing a glass in front of Asami with a smile, "Can I get y'all anything else?"

"Nah, we're good," Korra said and Asami picked it up and took a sip from her glass before returning to her meal. They ate in silence the only sounds those of their chewing and the chatter of the other patrons. As they finished their food the waitress appeared at their one final time placing it between them. "Thanks."

Korra reached for the check only for Asami to snatch it away, "I've got this."

"You already paid for the movies. I can get this."

"No. I'll get it."

"Asami, I can afford to eat here. I'm not _that_ poor."

Asami reached into her pocket pulling out her wallet, "Korra, _please,_ let me have this." Korra let out a huff as she pushed the chair back standing up. Asami watched as Korra grabbed her drink downing it. She couldn't help but wince as she did. How she could chug a drink that strong was beyond her.

"Fine." Asami watched a little uncertainly, cocking her head to the side. "We pay at the register."

"Oh." Asami stood up, her face flushing as she did so. They paid at the register before heading back out into the darkening streets. They walked in silence for a while before Asami decided to break it, "So do you want to head back to my place?"

"Actually I think I'd rather head back to the Island tonight."

"Do you want a ride to the docks?"

"Sure. That'd be nice." Korra walked around the side of the car and Asami unlocked it climbing inside. She started the engine, glancing over at Korra as she buckled her seat belt. She took a deep breath as she pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the street.

"Hey, Asami?" Korra asked as they pulled out onto the road, "Can I ask why you thought we were on a date?"

Asami looked over at Korra who was slumped in her seat staring out the window. She quickly returned her attention to the road, tightening her grip on the steering wheel. "Sure. Can I ask you what you have against the concept of soulmates?"

"Sure." Korra was silent for a while before asking, "Why did you think we were on a date?"

"I don't know. I guess the way you phrased it. 'Dinner and a movie is how people usually do these things?' It made me think you were asking me out on a date. I was stupid to jump to conclusions." Asami shook her head glad she had the road to focus on. Glad she could put all her energy into focusing on getting them to point b and not crying.

"You're not stupid Asami. I can see how you came to that to a conclusion. I guess I just failed to see the other implications." Korra mumbled as she looked out the window at the city as it passed by, "Though I have to wonder why you so quickly assumed this was a date?"

Asami's whole body stiffened at the question. She didn't know how to respond. Did she say the truth? That she had wanted this to be a date so badly that she hadn't even thought about the other implications. The more obvious implication. She glanced at Korra as the car came to a stop at a red light, opening her mouth to say something only for Korra to cut her off.

"It doesn't matter why. What happened, happened." Asami swallowed as she returned her attention to the road as the light turned green.

"So," She licked her lips finding herself unsure how to proceed. This night hadn't gone at all how she had imagined it in her head. "Why don't you like soulmates?"

"It's not that I don't like them. I think the idea of soulmates is good as a concept but the execution is a little lacking." Asami pulled to a stop upon the arrival at the docks and put the car into idle.

"Then what's your problem with it?" Asami asked unbuckling her seat belt and turning her body toward Korra.

"I told you my problem isn't with the concept. It's with the execution."

Asami shook her head, "I don't...understand."

Korra let out a sigh, running a hand over her face, "I like the concept of soulmates as an idea but I think society royally screwed up the execution of it." Korra muttered a hit of agitation leaking into her tone.

"You keep repeating the same thing over and over in different ways and I'm still not getting it."

Korra let out a frustrated groan, pulling at her face, "Why do you want to meet your soulmate Asami?"

"Because I want to start aging again." Wasn't that why everyone wanted to meet their soulmates? That and so they could meet the person who would be their forever.

"Is that the only reason?"

"I don't know what you mean. Don't you want to meet your soulmate and start aging again?"

"Answer the question Asami."

Asami shifted uncomfortably in her seat unsure how to respond. What did Korra want to hear? It was obvious that she wanted a specific answer but what that was Asami didn't know. She decided to be honest. "I want to meet my forever and finally be happy."

Suddenly Korra shot up, slamming her hand against the middle compartment, "See! This is exactly what I'm talking about!" Her fist clenched into a fist as she gritted her teeth together. "People think that meeting their soulmate will magically solve all their problems and they'll 'finally be happy' just because they meet their 'Forever'." Korra fell back against her seat letting out an agitated sigh, "Life's not that simple and rarely that easy."

"Do you not want to be happy?"

"Of course I want to be happy Asami. I just don't think meeting my soulmate will magically cure my depression and get rid of my suicidal ideation." Asami's breath caught in her throat at the comment. "Life doesn't work that way. No matter how much we want it too." Korra let out a heavy sigh as she pushed the door open and moved to step out only for a peal of thunder to sound overhead.

Asami climbed out as well as the first few drops fell from the sky, "Maybe you shouldn't." She crossed her arms over her chest, "It looks like a storm is brewing."

"I'll be fine. I'm a water bender, remember?" Korra muttered and Asami didn't want to push Korra but she also really didn't like the look of those clouds.

"Yeah, I know but I don't like the look of those clouds. I have a spear bedroom. Please, Korra."

"I'll be fine." Korra shrugged her off with a half-hearted wave, "It's not that far." Asami reached across the roof of the car but didn't say anything else simply watched as Korra disappeared around the corner. Asami put her head in her hands, running her fingers through her hair letting out a sigh. She climbing back into her car, closing the door just as it began to pour down rain.

"Korra, please be safe."

A/N: Hey, I know I said every two weeks but the just flew out the window(I'm juggling updating like five different fics so please forgive me if I don't update regularly) also I've started updating to my a week in advance to updating her so that also adds to the wait time but please enjoy anyway :') 


	13. Storms in the Distance

The moment Korra rounded the corner she fell to her knees, throwing up the contents of her stomach. She squeezed her eyes closed as she heaved and retched rain pouring down over her back. Thunder roared over as rain poured over her, her hair slick against her face as she tried to collect herself. She wasn't drunk. Suddenly, another wave of nausea came over her as she started to dry heave. Okay, so maybe she was a little drunk but she could still make it home. She pushed herself to her feet and stumbled forward, toward the edge of the docks. She dragged her eyes over the edge of the dock until she spotted her small skiff tied to a pole. She stumbled over to it, tripping over her feet and falling into the boat. She hit her head on the edge letting out a groan as she pushed herself to her feet turning to try and undo the rope letting out a sound of triumph when she managed to pull it up and off. She took a knee composing herself before standing up and bending the boat into open waters.

Korra moved the boat through the rough waters, doing her best to ignore the water that the boat was taking on and focusing instead on the light on the horizon. Korra swung her arms a little too widely causing the boat to capsize sending Korra into the cold water. She struggled not to swallow water as she moved forward, taking a deep breath before ducking under the boat.

Korra looked up seeing the gigantic wave that was currently bearing down on her and all she could do was mutter, "Fuck."

X

The muddled sound of people talking overlapped one another as Korra slowly came to. Her head throbbed and she couldn't focus as she forced her eyes open. The world swam in front of her eyes as she groaned rolling her head to the side, "Quick, stabilize her neck."

"On it." The feeling of a pair of hands on either side of her head caused Korra to look up and see a man smiling down at her. "Hey there. Can you tell me your name?"

Korra furrowed her brows up at the man as she tried desperately to recall the piece of information, "K-ka-" The word was on the tip of her tongue but her head throbbed and she was having trouble focusing on anything. "Kor-"

"It's okay if you can't remember."

"No, it's not." The other person hissed but Korra couldn't quite comprehend why that was _bad_ just that it was.

"My name," Korra slurred. "My name is Korra." She finally managed to get out but her mind bearly processed what she just said.

"That's great Korra. Can you focus on me Korra?" The man asked and Korra gave what she hoped was a nod.

"Keep her head stabilized!" The other man yelled and Korra tried to glance at him put found she couldn't move her head. Korra looked up at the man, his face blurring as her mind struggled to stay conscious. The throbbing was getting worse and her vision began to go dark at the edges.

"Korra, I need you to focus on my voice. Can you do that?" The man's voice sounded far away like it was coming from deep underwater. Her eyes drifted closes as one of the men yelled, "She's fading fast. Tell the driver to step on it."

X

Korra was jerked back into semi-consciousness by the feeling her body being her jerked. "Careful. We don't know how badly she injured her neck." Korra watched groggily was the light flew by overhead and let out a weak noise of protest.

"Hey there." The man from before appeared in her vision, "Welcome back to the land of the living, Korra."

"Where..." Korra slurred, dragging her eyes from the left to the right taking in the stale environment.

"You're in the hospital. Do you remember why?" The man asked and Korra squeezed her eyes closed, racking her brain for the reason.

"N-no."

"You got caught in a storm and hit your head on a rock."

"Ouchie," Korra mumbled rolling her eyes and the man laughed.

"Ouchie indeed. Listen, I'm going to ask you a series of questions and I need you to answer to the best of you ability. Understand?"

"Uh-uh."

"Can you tell me who the current mayor of Republic City is?"

Korra squeezed her eyes shut, groaning at the pain of trying to remember. She tried to roll her head to the to the side but found it held firmly in place.

"Okay. Okay." The man muttered, "Do you know who the current CEO of Future Industries is?"

Korra's eyes snapped open and she looked wildly around, "I-I know this one." Korra furrowed her brows, "It's Ah-Asami S-Sato."

"Yes. That's right." The man smiled, "Good job."

"Wh-where is Asami? She's was with me, I think?"

"You were alone. There was no one else."

"No!" Korra yelled, shaking her head, "She was with me." Korra furrowed her brows again, "I was with her?" She shook her head again, "W-we...We were together."

"Can I get something to calm her down?"

"On it."

Suddenly, Korra began to calm down, her head swiveling to the side as she continued to mutter, "We were together."

Several voices overlapped with one another as Korra began to fade back into unconsciousness.

"She's fading fast."

"I don't think she's goin-."

"Her BP is-"

And then darkness claimed Korra for the last time.

* * *

Asami shot up in bed, her heart beating hard as panic shot through her body. She clutched at her sheets with one hand and at her chest with the other as tears streamed down her face. She let out a sob as a feeling of utter and complete loss overcame her. She sobbed unsure as to just why she suddenly felt like someone had just died. Asami sat there her sobs echoing through her empty apartment when a single thought made its way through her mind, "Korra." She didn't know why her mind jumped to Korra but somehow it only made her feel worse. She began to hyperventilate as the panic set deeper into her system. She snatched her phone off the bedside table, opening the contacts and pressing call on Korra's name. She pressed the phone to her ear and muttered to herself, "Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. God, please pick up."

' _We are currently unable to reach that number. Please try again later.'_

"No. No. No. No." Asami muttered, throwing her blanket off and jumping out of bed. She redialed the number pacing back and forth until it picked up.

' _We are currently unable to reach that number. Please try again later.'_

She redialed it again.

' _We are currently unable to reach that number. Please try again later.'_

And again.

' _We are currently unable to reach that number. Please try again later.'_

And again.

' _We are currently unable to reach that number. Please try again later.'_

And again.

' _We are currently unable to reach that number. Please try again later.'_

And again.

' _We are currently unable to reach that number. Please try again later.'_

And again.

' _We are currently unable to reach that number. Please try again later.'_

Asami collapsed to the floor a sob escaping her throat as she clutched her phone to her chest. Somehow she just _knew_ that something had happened to Korra. Something bad.

She was beginning to hyperventilate when her phone suddenly rang and in a blind flurry answered, yelling into the speaker, "Korra!?"

The other end was silent for a few moments before a man spoke up, "No. It's Councilman Tenzin."

Asami _almost_ recognized the name but it just escaped her. "W-who?"

"...Councilman Tenzin. We meet at the Gala in March."

"Oh," Asami muttered as it finally clicked, "You live with Korra, right?"

"Yes, that's actually why-"

"Is Korra there?"

"Miss Sato," Tenzin said causing Asami's jaw to snap shut, "No, she's not here. I was hoping she was with you."

"No. I was hoping she was with you."

"Oh Dear," Tenzin whispered, "Thank you for your time."

"Wait!" Asami yelled scrambling to her feet, "Please, don't leave me alone."

"Miss Sato."

"I know it's not your job but I _know_ something bad happened to Korra and I just _can't_ be alone right now."

"Okay. I'll send Jinora to pick you up."

"Okay. Thank you." Asami said as the other end clicked off. Asami took a deep breath as she tried to keep her mind steady. She began pacing back and forth clutching her phone to her chest while biting at her nails. The sudden sound of tapping at glass caused Asami jump and turn toward her door. She ran out of her bedroom and into the living room, throwing open doors to the balcony. She watched as Jinora jumped back, using a gust of air to cushion her landing.

"Hey, Jinora," Asami said, pulling her robe around her body against the cold of post-storm wind chill.

"Hey, Asami," Jinora responded, giving Asami a strange look, "My dad said you think Korra might be in trouble."

"Not think. _Know_. I _know_ Korra is in trouble."

"How? How do you know?"

"I don't know!?" She yelled, running a hand through her hair, "I just do! I just have this," She gestured at her chest angrily, "this feeling that something is wrong. That Korra's in trouble and I'm so scared that I'm going to lose her."

Jinora looked contemplative for a few moments before nodding, "Okay. Come on." She turned jumping over it causing Asami to run to it looking over the edge to see her sitting on what Asami had to assume was a flying Bison although she had never seen one in person. "Jump. Pepper will catch you."

Taking a deep breath, Asami climbed over the railing jumping down into the saddle of the bison. She rolled over onto her back, pushing herself up to see Jinora starring at her.

"You good?" Asami nodded and Jinora turned around, snapping the reigns, "Hup Hup."

Asami sat in silence as they flew over the city toward Air Temple Island knowing that whatever happened to Korra was her fault.


	14. Calm After the Storm

Asami paced back and forth in the main room of Tenzin's home, anxiety twisting her stomach into knots. Tenzin was busy making calls trying to find out where Korra was which was taking far too long for Asami's tastes. She continued to pace, Pema following her with her eyes from where she sat on the couch. "Asami, why don't you take a seat and relax?"

Asami turned on Pema, anger flaring in her chest, "Relax!? Relax!?" Pema flinched but Asami was too wound up to care, "How can I relax when Korra is out there somewhere and in god knows what condition!?" Asami returned to pacing back and forth, wringing her hands as she did so. The feeling of a hand on her shoulder caused Asami to pause and look at Pema. She gave her a calm smile, gently leading her over toward the couch. Asami reluctantly took a seat, running an agitated hand through her hair, "I'm sorry Pema. I'm just freaking out right now." Pema quietly rubbed soothing circles on her back, "I _know_ Korra is in trouble and I can't just sit here and do nothing." Asami moved to stand up only to be pulled back down by the Air Matriarch.

"I know you're worried about Korra but overreacting isn't going to help. The best you can do is try and calm down. Trust Tenzin, okay?" Pema gave her a smile and a look that seemed to say, ' _Trust me?'_ without actually saying the words and Asami let out a breath as she leaned back.

"Okay, I'll try." She huffed and Pema gave her shoulder a squeeze as they lapsed into an uneasy silence. Asami wasn't sure how long had passed when the door to the living room flew open and Tenzin flew into the room a look of determination on his face. He began pacing back and forth much like Asami previously had. Pema quickly stood up and went to comfort her husband.

"Well? Did you find out where she is?" Pema asked, placing a hand on his shoulder causing his sag and him to let out a breath.

"Republic city General," Tenzin muttered as he pulled a hand over his face. "From what I could gather she's okay."

Asami shot to her feet, the panic that had faded returning in full force. "How bad is she?" Asami practically yelled, her voice cracking as she did.

Tenzin turned to look at her, caught off guard momentarily by her presence. "I'm not sure. The nurse I talked to just said that she's stable for now." Tenzin ran another hand over his face before turning away from his wife and heading toward the door, "I need to go to the hospital. I'll call and update you once I know more."

"Wait."Asami reached forward, grabbing the edge of Tenzin's cloak, "Let me come with you."

Tenzin looked down at her and gave her a placating smile, "Miss Sato, I think it would be best if you went home for the night."

Asami opened her mouth to protest but got a look from Tenzin that said this wasn't up for debate. She let out a sigh as she glared up at the Airbender, "Fine."

Tenzin gave her a tense nod, "Give me a few minutes and I'll fly you back to your apartment."

Asami grunted in response pushing past him and out of the living room. She stalked outside, pulling her robe around her as she looked out across the bay at Republic city. She knew where Korra was and that she was okay but the anxious feeling in her gut just wouldn't subside. "Come along, Miss Sato." Asami watched as Tenzin and Pema moved toward the bison stables and took a deep breath before reluctantly following them.

* * *

The ride back to her home was uneventful and spent in silence. Once she was dropped back on her balcony, Tenzin flew off leaving Asami alone. She watched as he disappeared behind the buildings before returning inside. She collapsed onto her couch, running her hands through her hair as she leaned her elbows on her thighs. She let out a heavy sigh as she realized she wasn't going to be getting any sleep until she knew how Korra was doing but Tenzin-

Suddenly, a realization hit Asami and she was on her feet in seconds. She moved toward her bathroom preparing to take a shower and change clothes. If she was going to do this she needed to look like someone who shouldn't be crossed.

A quick shower and a single change of clothes later Asami was on the road headed toward Republic City General. Asami made a point of driving exactly the speed limit. Not a mile over or a mile under. She couldn't afford to be pulled over, not right now.

She pulled into the parking lot of Republic City General, turning into a parking lot just barely missing the side mirror of the car next to her. She pulled the keys out of the ignition and threw her door open only for it to collide with the door of the other car. Asami winced as she looked at the busted mirror knowing that it was going to come back and bite her in the ass.

Letting out a sigh, she reached for a pad of paper and a pen quickly writing a note with her contact information. She climbed out of the car, slamming the door closed and quickly placed the note under the car's windshield.

Asami walked into the Hospital and almost immediately collided with Tenzin, "Miss Sato?" He quirked an eyebrow down at her, "What are you doing here?"

Asami crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm here to see Korra."

He ran a hand over his face letting out a frustrated sigh, "I told you to go home and some sleep, Miss Sato."

"No, you said it would be best if I went home for the night you never specified whether I was to stay there." Tenzin opened his mouth to protest before closing it upon realizing that he didn't have a good retort. He let out a sigh, running his hands over his head. "Can I see Korra?" Tenzin looked down at her and, after letting out another heavy sigh, gestured toward the hall.

"She's down that way in room 148." Asami flashed him a smile before bolting down toward where he had directed her. She came to a stop in front of the open door looking into Korra's hospital room. She looked over the unconscious woman before her, a pang of hurt lodging itself in her chest.

Asami hesitantly took a seat next to Pema, placing her hands on her lap as she continued to look over the unconscious woman. They sat in silence, the only sound the beeping of the heart monitor. Asami didn't know what to say to break the silence but she had a burning question that she desperately needed an answer to. "Hey, Pema?"

The woman looked up at her, tears pricking at her eyes. She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled up at Asami, "Yes?"

"I need to-" Asami cut herself off as she realized that what she was going to say wouldn't have panned out. She took a deep breath, "Korra told me something the other night that's been bothering me and I just wanted to ask if maybe you had the answer."

Pema quirked an eyebrow at Asami as she said, "I can try."

"She said she was suicidal." Asami watched as a flash of pain crossed the older woman's face, "Do you think she could have-"

"No!" Asami turned around to see Jinora standing in the doorway, "She wouldn't. Not again." Asami watched as she turned and ran out of the room. Pema quickly got up and followed the teen leaving Asami alone with the hospital room as Jinora's words rang in Asami's head.

' _She wouldn't. Not again.'_ She looked at the unconscious Waterbender and couldn't keep the feeling of dread the filled her as the rhythmic beeping lulled her into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

A hand on Asami's shoulder brought her back into awareness and she glanced up at Tenzin who gave her an understanding smile as he placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked back over at Korra. "She'll wake up, won't she?"

"Of course she will. Korra is too stubborn to die from something like this." Tenzin said and Asami smiled up at him.

"Thanks. I needed to hear that." Asami brushed a strand of hair behind her ear as Tenzin gave her shoulder another reassuring squeeze.

"I think you should go home, Miss Sato," Tenzin said and Asami's head jerked up to look at the Airbender. "Just for the night. Get a proper night's sleep and come back rested and recharged." Asami looked back at Korra before letting out a sigh. She was really tired but the idea of leaving Korra's side for even a second seemed blasphemous. "I'll keep you updated if anything changes with Korra. Just go home and get some rest."

Letting out a sigh, Asami pushed herself up and walked over to Korra's bedside. She reached out hesitantly, stopping just short of touching her hands. She shook her head, pulling her hand back clenching into a fist. She turned on her heel, brushing past Tenzin as rushed out of the room. She moved through the hospital, toward the front doors.

She knew Tenzin was right. She needed to sleep on an actual bed and get an actual nights sleep. She walked past the car with the still busted side mirror, letting out a sigh. That was really going to become a problem later. Asami opened the front door to her car, sliding inside and leaning her head on her steering wheel. She took several deep breaths trying to steady herself before putting the key in the ignition and turning the engine over. She would feel better in the morning. She could worry better about Korra once she was fully rested.

* * *

Nearly a week and a half had passed since Korra's accident and she had still yet to wake up. Asami had spent every ounce of free time she had in the hospital room, watching Korra in the hopes that she would wake up. Her work was falling by the wayside as all her energy went into worrying about Korra. She knew she needed to finish the outline of the plans but every time she tried to get some work done her mind wandered to the injured Korra and how she was doing. The fact that her phone kept buzzing with emails from Raiko's assistant nearly harassing her on why she had yet to get the plans to her. Letting out a sigh, Asami reluctantly turned her phone on airplane mode as she pushed herself to her feet moving to where the vending machines were located. Pulling out a wrinkled dollar bill, straightening it out on the edge of the machine before slipping it into the slot. She watched it slowly slide in, making an obnoxious sound before pushing the dollar bill back out. She tried again, but the result was the same. After the fifth attempt, Asami gave up leaning her head against the glass while stuffing the bill back in her pocket.

She eventually pushed herself up and moved back toward Korra's hospital room. She leaned against the doorway and looked over Korra as the nurse switched out her I.V for a fresh bag. Running a hand through her hair and taking a deep breath, Asami turned and headed toward the hospital entrance. She needed to finish the final draft for Raiko and she couldn't do that by Korra's side. As much as she wished she could.

Once she arrived home and headed toward her office, ready to try and get some work done. Asami took a deep breath as she sat down at her desk and began working on the plans for the new rail system.

* * *

Asami was jerked into consciousness, it seemed she had fallen asleep at her desk while working on the project for Raiko. She pushed the papers around her desk, having to pick up the phone knowing deep down that it was probably Raiko peeved that she hadn't gotten him those estimates yet. Which is why when she saw an unfamiliar number lighting up the screen she felt panic flooded her system. Answering the phone, pressed it up against her ear letting out a quiet, "Hello?"

The other end spoke up and Asami felt the panic turn into hope as Jinora spoke over the line. "She's awake."


	15. Awake

Korra stared up at the ceiling of her hospital, her mind struggling to wrap itself around her current situation. A doctor had come into her room, explained to her why she was where she was and then left. Korra hadn't understood a bit of what he'd said aside from the words 'Accident' 'Unconscious' and 'Hospital'. The rest had gone in one ear and out the other in a jumbled mess of unrecognizable syllables. She rolled her head to the side, lifting up her hand and squinting at the needle in her arm. Suddenly panic flooded her system as her mind _finally_ began to what was going on. She reached over with her other hand, yanking the needle out with a hiss before pushing herself up and rolling onto the floor.

The sound of the heart monitor flatlining barely registered to Korra as she yanked the electrodes from her chest. Her chest heaved as the panic began to make it hard to breathe and focus. The sudden feeling of hands on her shoulders only caused her panic to skyrocket to a whole new level. She struggled against the hands as they forced her onto the bed, inserting a cold needle into the back of her neck. Her whole body went limp as whatever they'd injected into her took effect. Her eyes began to droop closed as she grabbed a fistful of fabric as her body gave out on her.

X

Korra's mind slowly began to come back online, her head throbbing as she struggled to pry her eyes open. She slowly took in the darkness of the room she was situated in. She was still in the hospital room she had woken up in before although the darkness that permeated the room let her know that she had been unconscious much longer then it felt. Korra found that the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor began to grate on her nerves and she moved to pull off the wires only to find her hand chained to the side of the bed. She tried her other hand finding it similarly restrained. Panic filled Korra s she pulled at her restrained hands, the beeping of the heart monitor increasing in speed and volume. The door flew open, flooding the room with light causing Korra to turn away and squeeze her eyes closed. "Who's there?"

"Hey, you remember me?" A familiar male voice spoke but Korra couldn't quite place where it was from.

"No?" Korra said as she listened to the sound of footsteps as the moved around the bed, "Who are you?"

"I'm your assigned nurse. We meet earlier but I don't blame you for not remembering. You did hit your head pretty hard."

"I did?" Korra finally pried her eyes open to see a man in nurses scrubs as he began messing with the medical equipment. Korra watched as he undid the restraints on her wrists.

"That you did. Listen I'm going to give you a sedative. Just enough to help you relax, okay?" The nurse said as he filled a syringe with some kind of liquid.

"Okay." Korra watched as he injected the liquid into her I.V tube.

"It will take a while to kick in so try and relax until then." He placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I'll be back to check on you in an hour or so."

Korra watched as he left closing the door behind him, leaving her alone with just her thoughts to keep her company. She sat in the semi-darkness her mind trying to piece together how she had ended up in her current situation but found she couldn't quite remember. Her memory has a hazy disjointed mess that didn't seem to quite connect in the right way. She kind of sort of remembered being with someone but the picture of who it was so blurry that she couldn't tell who it was. She sat there, trying to piece together the disjointed shards of her shattered memory when there was a knock at her door and it slowly slid open. Korra turned to see Tenzin, standing in the doorway looking at her with a concerned look.

"What's that look for?" Korra laughed as Tenzin moved into the room taking a seat next to her bed. "I'm not dead, am I?"

Tenzin let out a weak laugh, running his hand over his head, "No, you aren't." He was quiet for several moments before continuing, "How do you feel?"

"I feel okay I guess but I don't really remember how I ended in the hospital," Korra said, rubbing her forehead.

"You don't remember?" Tenzin asked, concern leaking into his voice. "Like at all?"

"It's all a fuzzy. I think I was with someone but I'm not sure who." Korra said as she rubbed her fingers into her temple.

"You were with Asami when it happened," Tenzin said and Korra's head snapped to look at him. That's right. She was with Asami. Asami would know how she had ended up here.

"Can I talk to her?" Korra asked. Tenzin looked at her a confused look crossing his face. "She's here, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then let me see her. I need to talk to her." Korra practically pleaded, causing Tenzin's shoulders to sag and he let out a sigh.

"Okay. Just give me a few moments." Tenzin said as he pushed himself to his feet and left Korra alone once more.

Korra needed to know how she had ended up here and Asami seemed to have the answers.

* * *

Asami paced along the hall, waiting for Tenzin to tell her that she could see Korra. He had repeatedly told her that Korra 'Wasn't ready for visitors just yet' and Asami was left to worry. She stopped pacing mid-step when she noticed Tenzin heading toward her. Asami moved to meet him halfway, her hand at her chest. "How is she?"

Tenzin looked slightly anxious as he ran a hand over his neck, "She's doing better." Asami could tell that there was more to that statement then what was said aloud.

"And?"

"And she's asking for you but she's not..." He trailed off collecting his thoughts before continuing, "She's a little out of it at the moments so be gentle." Asami took a deep breath and gave Tenzin a nod before heading toward Korra's room. She pushed the door open, glancing over at Korra who turned to look at her a droopy smile on her face.

"Hey, Asami," Korra said, her words slurred slightly. Asami walked further into the room, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

"Hey, Korra." Asami smiled, "Tenzin said you wanted to see me."

Korra furrowed her brows, "I did?" Asami nodded and suddenly a look of realization crossed her face, "Oh yeah. I did." She let out a chuckle, leaning her head back against the pillow.

"What did you want to talk about?" Asami asked, leaning forward slightly. Korra furrowed her brows as she leaned back, reaching up to stroke her chin.

"I, Uh, Um..." She rubbed her chin and Asami could see the gears turning in her head.

"If you can't remember I can come back later..." Asami said, moving to stand up only to stop when Korra grabbed the edge of her shirt. Asami looked down at Korra who looked back at her.

"I don't remember..."

Asami nodded, "Then I'll come back when you do."

"No!" Korra cried, pulling at her shirt, "I don't remember how I ended up here. Can you tell me how? You were with me right?"

"Uh..." Asami stuttered, not sure how to respond. She could lie, right? There was nothing wrong with a little white lie. Just about how involved Asami had been. Right? She looked down at Korra who was looking up at her expectantly and reluctantly she caved. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, Asami looked Korra in the eyes giving her a small smile as she spoke, "Yeah I was with you."

"How did I end up here?"

Asami let out a sigh, running a hand through her hair, "I drove you to the docks after we saw a movie together."

"Oh yeah. A romance, right?" Asami nodded, "I don't like romances." Korra said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Yeah, I know." Asami sighed, wringing her hands slightly, "We'd gotten into a bit of an argument about it and you left. I tried to get you to spend the night with me but you just left."

"Spend the night with you?" Korra asked, confusion eeking into her words.

Asami suddenly realized how what she'd said and she quickly began to backtrack, "I meant, spend the night with me at my home. On my couch." She ended her stuttering sentence with an uneasy laugh, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Oh. Okay." Korra said, turning away from Asami leaving slightly unsure if that was the end of the conversation or not when suddenly Korra turned to look at her. "The doctors said I have a," She paused furrowing her brows before saying, "A concussion."

Asami couldn't help but giggle at the sudden switch in conversation topics. "Is that so?"

"Yuh-uh. The doctors told me to take it easy." She made wave motion with her arm that was probably meant to be a 'take it easy' motion. Asami couldn't help but laugh at it.

"Then you better do as they say," Asami said as she adjusted herself on the bed watching as Korra's head rolled to the side, her eyes fluttering closed.

Asami let out a sigh and moved to stand up only to stop when Korra spoke, "Hey Asami?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry," Korra said causing Asami to furrow her brows in confusion.

"What for?"

"The doctors gave me a sedative so I'm not very coherent so I'm sorry." Korra gave her a weak smile and Asami hesitantly placed her hand over Korra's knee over the thin sheet that covered Korra's leg.

"Don't be sorry. I'm just happy you're okay." Asami watched as Korra visibly relaxed, leaning back letting her head roll to the side.

"Stay with me until I fall asleep?" Korra asked, grabbing the edge of Asami's shirt.

"Of Course."


	16. Taking it Easy

Korra sat under a tree on air temple island, her eyes closed, her body in a meditative pose. She was trying to relax but the throbbing in her skull was making it hard to do so. Her doctor had told her to take it easy and had prescribed her painkillers which Korra refused to take. Call her stubborn all you want but Korra wasn't one to rely on drugs for things she could deal with on her own. She struggled to find her center before reluctantly pushing herself to her feet and began moving across the island and toward the living quarters. Korra was halfway there when a sound stopped her in her steps. She turned toward the sound finding both Ikki and Meelo standing on the poles of the airball field.

"No fair Ikki! That's cheating!" Meelo yelled.

Ikki was quick to fire back not one to be outdone by her brother, "Is not!" Korra rolled her eyes before continuing on her way.

"Korra wait!" Korra nearly flinched at Ikki's high pitched voice as she screeched across the island. Korra reluctantly looked toward Ikki to see her speeding toward her on an air scooter.

She came to a stop and Korra glared down at her with a scowl on her face, "What do you want Ikki?"

Ikki rolled on the heels of her feet, hands clasped behind her back, trying desperately to look as innocent as possible, "I was hoping you'd act as a referee for me and Meelo's airball game. We really need one."

"Ikki, I-"

"Pretty please. With sprinkles _and_ cherries on top." Ikki said, giving Korra her best Polar Bear Dog pup eyes and Korra let out a long-suffering sigh, throwing back her head.

"Fine." Korra watched as Ikki cheered and, honestly, that reaction was worth it. She followed the young Airbender toward the airball field. Korra watched as Ikki easily jumped up onto the pole and let out another groan as she moved toward the one pole that had a ladder. Korra sat, propping her head up on her head and watched as both the air brats got into position. "Alright and, start!" Korra watched lethargically as both of them began hitting the ball back and forth until Ikki managed to score a point, "Point, Ikki!"

Ikki placed her hands on her hips, puffing out her chest in a cocky display that she definitely hadn't learned from her father as Meelo went to retrieve the ball. The game continued on like this with nothing really exciting happening and Korra nearly falling asleep at one point. Airball could be an exciting game when there were more than two players but when each team only had one player it wasn't that fun to play. Let alone watch. Korra's eyes were drifting closed and her body getting dangerously relaxed given just where she was positioned when,

"Korra! Look out!" Ikki yelled and Korra turned to look at her only to have a speeding airball ball collide with her chest sending her flying from the pole.

Korra collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud and the air left her lungs. She had missed the bush that normally softened her landing and instead she had landed on the hard ground back first. The throbbing in her head worsened as she struggled to regain her breath and when she tried to move found that it hurt to do so. She wondered if maybe she had broken her spine. It would be just her luck.

"Are you okay, Korra!?" Ikki yelled as she jumped off the pole and landed beside her with a cushion of air, "That looked like it hurt!" Korra only groaned on response finding that the ability to make words escaped her. "Oh no. That's not good." Ikki said, biting at her fingernails and glance around nervously. "Meelo!?"

"Yeah?" Meelo responded appearing in Korra's field of view, "Ouch. That looks like it hurts."

"Go get Jinora," Ikki said as she took a seat next to Korra who turned her head to look at the young bender. "She'll know what to do."

"Okay. Can do!" Meelo said and turned to start running away before stopping and turning back, yelling, "Don't die before I get back Korra!" And then Korra watched him disappear out of view.

Korra took a deep breath before trying to push herself up only to have Ikki place a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, don't move."

Korra brushed her hand off and managed to mutter, "I'm f-fine." She placed her head in her hand, trying to quell the growing headache. She was just about to try and get up when Jinora came running up with Meelo trailing behind her.

"Korra, are you okay?" Jinora kneeled beside Korra, placing a hand on her knee, "Meelo said you fell off the airball pole. Where does it hurt?"

"I'm fine," Korra muttered, squeezing her eyes closed and shaking her head, "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Jinora said, placing a hand against Korra's head, "Why were you up on the airball pole anyway?"

"Ikki and Meelo..." Korra muttered gesturing at the younger airbenders.

"What did you two do this time?" Jinora said in exasperation at her younger siblings.

Korra opened her eyes just as Ikki jumped forward crying out, "We didn't do anything!"

"Yeah!" Meelo agreed, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jinora quirked an eyebrow at the pair, "Then what happened?"

"Well, I asked her to be the referee for our airball match cause Meelo kept cheating," Ikki explained.

"Nuh-Uh! You were the one that was cheating!" Meelo cried, stomping his foot.

Ikki brushed aside her brother's comment before continuing, "Anyway, what happened was we were kicking the ball back and forth and Meelo kicked it at me weird so a sent an air slice at it which caused it to knock Korra off the pole. It was an accident, right Meelo?"

"Yeah. An accident." Meelo agreed, nodding his head and smiling.

Jinora shook her head and turned her attention fully back to Korra, "Can you stand or do you need help?"

Korra shook her head, still holding it slightly in her head, "No, I think I can manage." She pulled away from the young Airbender before pushing herself to her feet. She swayed slightly as she did so and Jinora placed a steadying hand on her back.

"You can lean on me if you need to." Jinora looked up at Korra who gave her a weak smile.

"I just might take you up on that offer." Korra leaned slightly into Jinora who did her best to hold up Korra as they moved away from the Airball field.

"Where do you want me to take you?" Jinora asked as they approached the temple. "Do you want to stop by the infirmary or..." She trailed off as they climbed the steps onto the walkway.

"Just take me back to my room. I need to close my eyes." Korra squeezed her eyes shut slightly, shaking her head slightly. "My head is killing me."

"Okay. I can do that." Jinora said quietly as they continued on their way. They came to a stop in front of Korra's room and Jinora quickly airbent the door open before helping the waterbender hobble over to her bed. "There we go," Jinora muttered as gently helped Korra sit on her bed. "Do you need anything else?"

Korra shook her head, "Nah, I think I'll be fine now."

Jinora nodded and turned to leave only to notice the still full prescription bottle sitting on her dresser. "Have you not taken any of your painkillers?"

"Don't need 'em." Korra said while cradling her head in her hands. She probably looked less than convincing at the moment. Jinora quirked an eyebrow at her in a way that told Korra that she wasn't convinced. "I don't, Jin. I can manage without."

"You're in pain. They're pain _killers._ There's nothing wrong with letting modern medicine help when you need it too." Korra glared up at Jinora who just returned. "You're so stubborn. I swear." Jinora rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"I don't need em'." Korra rubbed the heel of her hand into her forehead, "It's just a headache."

Jinora let out a sigh and moved over to where she had set the medicine. She picked up the bottle and moved over to kneel in front of Korra. "If you won't do it for yourself then do it for me." Jinora pleaded and Korra let out a sigh. She would do anything for Tenzin and his kids. For her family. She let out a sigh, her shoulders sagging as she did so.

"Okay. Fine." Korra snapped much more harshly then she had meant to but Jinora didn't take any offense to it. Korra watched as Jinora read the directions before opening the bottle. She tapped out two small pills. Korra held out her hand and Jinora dropped them into her palm. Korra popped the pills into her mouth swallowing them dry.

Jinora twisted the cap back on, clutching the medicine bottle in her hand, "I'll, uh, just hold on to this. For safe keeping."

Korra let out an awkward laugh, "What? Are you worried I'll lose it?"

Jinora shoved the bottle in her pocket avoiding eye contact, "It's just, uh, these are Oxycontin which are highly addictive and you could overdose if you took to many."

Korra let out another awkward laugh, "Why would I-" Korra stopped abruptly when she realized what Jinora was getting at. She quickly shook her head, reaching out to place a hand on Jinora's arm, "Jinora you know I wouldn't do that to you, right? I promised after all."

Jinora nodded, wiping some unshed tears from her eyes, "I know. I'd just rather make sure. Is that okay?"

Korra pulled Jinora into a hug who easily returned the embrace, "Of course it is sweetie. I'm sorry I always worry you, kiddo."

Jinora laughed into Korra's neck before pulling away, "You're worth all the headaches in the world."

"Well, I'd hope to never give you headaches but that ship has long sailed," Korra smirked and Jinora rolled her eyes before heading toward the door.

"If you need more just come find me and ask. Okay?" Jinora asked and Korra nodded causing Jinora to smile. Jinora turned and exited the room, closing the door behind her.

Korra laid on her bed, closed her eyes, and let herself fall asleep.

* * *

Asami was hunched over her desk, the back of her neck feeling far to warm beneath her hair. The air conditioning blew on her back but somehow it still didn't seem to help. She stared down at the paper squinting at the words as they blurred together. Asami ran a hand through her hair, trying desperately focus on the word in front of her. Her body was so warm and it made it even harder it to focus. She slumped over on her desk, leaning on her arms while trying not to pass out.

There was a sudden knock at the door and Asami's head jerked up. She tried to look alert and awake, leaning back in her chair, "C-come in."

The door opened and her secretary, Li Yu, entered her office clutching a folder to her chest. "Do you have the blueprints done, Miss Sato?"

Asami ran her hand through her hair again, letting out a breath, "I'm sorry I haven't finished it yet. I'll get on it."

A look crossed Miss Li's face before she approached her desk, setting her folder down, "Miss Sato, I think you should go home for the day." Miss Li said and Asami shook her head.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." Asami slurred while knowing that what she said was complete bullshit. Suddenly, Miss Li placed a hand against her forehead brushing a few strands of hair out of her hair. "What are you doing?"

"Yep, you have a fever." Miss Li said, standing up and brushing off her hands, "I already called you a cab." Asami opened her mouth to protest only to be cut off when Miss Li spoke, "Uh Uh Uh! I'll cancel and reschedule all your meetings for the next few days. Now, let me help you downstairs."

Miss Li pulled Asami to her feet and she leaned into the older as they made their way out of the office and downstairs. Asami glanced at her secretary who was going above and beyond the call of duty. Asami would have to remember to give her a raise when she came back to work.

They exited the building and headed toward a cab that was idling by the curb. Miss Li easily opened the door and helped Asami inside. She handed the driver a wad of cash and Asami struggled to push herself upright, "You don't have to-"

"Nonsense. It wouldn't be proper if I let someone as sick as you pay for their own cab." She looked down at Asami her reluctantly leaned back on the seat.

"At least let me pay you back," Asami said and Miss Li shook her head with a smile.

"Not a single yuan."

Asami groaned causing Miss Li to laugh.

"I'll come check up on you tomorrow. Be sure to rest well, Miss Sato." With that, she closed the door and stepped back. The cab pulled away from the curb and began driving toward her apartment.

The cab pulled up to the curb and Asami stumbled out of the cab and watched as it drove away. She turned to look up at her apartment, squeezing her eyes hoping that maybe if she thought hard enough she could transport herself into her apartment. Letting out a sigh Asami began trudging toward her building. She entered the building, letting out a sigh as the air conditioning cooled her much too hot body.

"Miss Sato you're home early." Jian, the concierge, said from behind the counter as he pushes himself to his feet. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Asami shook her head, forcing herself to smile at the younger boy, "No, I just need to go lie down."

"Let me call the elevator for you." Jian said, moving around the desk and taking Asami by the hand, "Let me help you to the elevator." Asami let herself be lead toward the elevator. She swayed slightly as Jian inserted the master key into the hole calling the elevator down. The doors slid open with a quiet _ding._ "Here you go, Miss Sato."

Asami leaned against the wall, keeping the elevator door from closing. She reached into her pocket fishing out her wallet. She retrieved a 20 yuan bill and handed it to Jian who took it with wide eyes. He shook his head, trying to hand back the bill which Asami pushed back at him, "Keep it. You've more than earned it." He beamed up at Asami who finally entered the elevator, letting herself slump against the wall. ' _And besides, I have more money then I know what to do with.'_

Asami leaned her head back against the cool metal of the elevator wall. She felt like shit and wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed and sleep for days but Asami wouldn't be doing that. All the files she had left at the office were also on her computer and she planned on getting some work done before she passed out from this fever.

The elevator opened and she stumbled out into her apartment, toeing off her heels as she did so. She moved toward her office, shrugging off her jacket which fell to the floor with a thud. Asami climbed the stairs, her body protesting each and every step. She reached the top of the stairs already out of breath. She took a moment to catch her breath before continuing on to her office. Asami made it to her office and collapsed into her chair letting out a sigh. She ran a hand through her hair leaning back and taking a moment to gather her thoughts before she went to work.

She opened her laptop and set to work, editing the contracts that still needed to be fleshed out before they could be sent out to their clients. As she continued to make changes to the contracts, fixing spelling errors and making sure that the terms were clear. Better to lay out the terms and conditions in clear understandable terms so that no shady businessmen could find loopholes. Asami continued working on contract after contract until her vision began to blur to the point she couldn't see the screen of her computer.

Asami struggled to her feet, only for her mind to swim and her legs to give out under her. She collided with the ground her body giving out on her. She struggled to push herself up but her arms gave out. Asami barely managed to move her to the side so she wasn't lying face down on the floor. Her lids started to drift closed much too heavy to keep open and as she closed her eyes for the last time her mind drifted. Her mind drifted to a pair of crystal blue eyes and the face they belonged to. ' _Korra.'_


	17. Fevers and Frustrations

Korra shot up in her bed, panic immediately flooding her system. She clutched at her chest struggling to catch her breath and calm her racing mind. She managed to get her breathing under control and push the panic down. Why was she feeling so panicked? What was the reason? There had to be one. As Korra racked her brain for a reason a single name floated to the front of her mind, ' _Asami.'_

The moment the name crossed her mind, Korra knew the reason she felt so panicked. Korra knew more about the way soulmates worked than someone who was soulmate-less should and it caused the panic to seem much to real. She shook her head as she laid down, squeezing her eyes closed and tried to go back to sleep. ' _This isn't what I think it is. This isn't what I think it is. This isn't what I-'_ Korra shot up, throwing her legs over the side of her bed. "God Damnit!" She shoved her feet into her boots and grabbed her jacket before running out of her room and toward the air bison field. The sun was making its way toward the horizon as Korra approached Pepper. "Hey, girl." Korra cooed as she placed a gentle hand on the creature's nose. "Wanna go for a fly?" Pepper breathed out of her nose and Korra ran her fingers through its fur, "Alright then. Let's go."

Korra climbed up over Pepper's face and was perched on top of her head when a voice yelled from across the field, "Stop right there bison thief!" Korra's head turned to watch as Kai ran toward her before coming to a stop when he noticed who it was that was perched on Pepper's head. "Korra? What are doing?"

Korra looked down at the head of Pepper before giving a half shrug, "Stealing a bison?"

Kai quirked a brow up at Korra, crossing his arms over his chest, "Can I ask why?"

Korra looked to the side, running her fingers through Pepper's fur. "I just need to check up on something in the city."  
"So, take the ferry?"

"Too slow. I need to be there now." Korra spoke in a clipped tone as she slid backward so she was straddling Pepper's neck.

"So, what are you just gonna leave her in the park and just hope for the best?" Kai said and Korra just shrugged.

"I hadn't thought that far ahead," Korra muttered, rubbing the back of her neck.

Kai shook his head and moved to climb up onto Pepper's head, "Figured so." He sat on top of the bison's head and Korra leaned forward slightly.

"Uh, Kai what are you doing?"

"Giving you a lift to where you need to go." Kai looked at Korra over his shoulder, a smirk on his lips. "Just tell me where and I'll drop you off."

Korra leaned back, grabbing a fistful of fur, "I don't know the address but I can point you in the right direction."

Kai turned forward, "Alright. Yip Yip Pepper!" With those words, the bison launched itself into the air and they began to make their way toward the city.

"There! That's the place!" Korra yelled over the air whiping around her head as she pointed at the high rise apartment complex that stood out among the cityscape.

"Are you sure?" Kai yelled back, glancing at her as they circled down toward the building.

Korra nodded, gripping hard at a clump of the bisons fur, "Yeah. Just drop me off on the top floor." Kai flew Pepper over to the top floor balcony and Korra jumped off the bison landing on the railing. She jumped onto the balcony and turned to face Kai, "Hey what's with that face?" Korra placed a hand on her hip, quirking a brow at the boy in front of her. "I know the person who lives here if that's what you're worried about."

Kai crossed his arms over his chest, "Okay, but if you end up on the 5 o'clock news, I'm not vouching for you."  
"That's fair." Korra nodded before turning towards the door, "See you later Kai." Korra said over her shoulder.

"Yeah. I should probably head back before Jin realizes I took Pepper for a ride without asking." Korra watched as Pepper flew out of view and Korra turned her full attention to the door in front of her. The panic that had faded into the background of her mind returned to the forefront as she approached the door. Something was wrong, Korra could feel it but what it was exactly was the question. She pushed the door open, stepping inside and half expecting to be assaulted by someone or something but only found an eerily quiet apartment.

"Asami?" Korra called out as she moved through the apartment, "Are you here?" When she didn't get an answer Korra began to try and convince herself that nothing was wrong but found it wasn't exactly working. "I really wish I had my phone right now." Korra slowly moved through the apartment until she came upon a set of stairs that she had somehow never noticed until now. Taking a deep breath she ascended the steps toward the second floor of the apartment. The moment she stepped onto the second floor she noticed a light coming from one of the rooms and made her way toward it. Pushing open the door her breath left her when she noticed the unconscious figure laying on the floor. "Asami!" Korra ran toward where Asami lay, kneeling beside her she gently turned her over, "God you're burning up."

Asami's eyes opened slightly as she stared up at Korra, "Korra? What are doing here?"

Korra gently brushed Asami's bangs out of her face, "I was worried about you." Korra snaked one arm under Asami's neck and the other under her legs before picking her up with a grunt. Cradling Asami in her arms she moved out of the office and down the hall kicking open doors until she came upon a room with a bed in it. She staggered into the room and set Asami on the bed as gently as she could. Asami didn't even seem to notice which only further worried Korra.

Korra took a seat on the and hesitantly unbuttoned Asami's blouse, squeezing her eyes shut. She felt dirty undressing Asami like this but she needed to get her out of her shirt. Reluctantly she opened her eyes, gently pulling Asami up causing her to slump against Korra's chest.

"Korra, what are you doing?" Asami slurred, nuzzling her face into the crook of Korra's neck.

"Your temperature is too high. Taking clothes off will help bring that down." Korra said as she pushed Asami's blouse down her arms before tossing it to the side. She gently laid her back down and moved toward the edge of the bed. Korra moved to stand up only to be stopped by a hand around her wrist.  
"Don't go..." Asami's grip on her wrist was tight despite her weakened state. "I don't want to be alone."

"I'm not leaving. I just need to go downstairs for a bit." She gently removed Asami's hand from her wrist, "I'll be back. I promise."

Asami closed her eyes and gave a half nod. Korra stood up, giving Asami one last look before heading downstairs.

She made her way into the kitchen and immediately set to work searching through the cupboard for a bowl or bucket or something. Eventually, she found a pot under the counter and quickly went to work. She moved it over to the sink, setting it on the counter and turning on the water. She ran her fingers under the water adjusting it until it was icy cold. She placed the pot under the running water and let it run while she moved toward the freezer. She opened the door, pulling out the ice tray and moved over the sink. She turned the water off with her elbow, dumping the ice into the pot. Korra pulled the pot out of the sink and went looking for a rag. She easily finds one and, after grabbing the pot, moves back up to the bedroom.

Korra pushed the door open, moving over to the bed and setting the pot on the ground as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"Korra..." Asami quietly rasped and Korra looked over her shoulder to see her curled in on herself. "You're back."

Korra flashed her a smile, brushing Asami's bangs hair out of her eyes. "Of course, I told you I would be." She turned back to the pot, dunking the hand towel into the ice-cold water. She rung out the excess water, turning back to Asami running the wet cloth over her forehead. Asami let out a sigh, leaning into the cloth. Korra gently ran the cloth down the side of Asami's face before rewetting it and placing it on her forehead. Korra ran a hand over the side of Asami's face and she leaned into the touch, reaching up to cup Korra's hand. As she stared down at Asami and couldn't help but remember the feeling of panic she had woken up to. The feeling that had faded to the back of her mind. The panic that meant that she and Asami were-

"Thank you, Korra." Asami murmured half into the pillow, half into Korra's hand. "For being here. You don't need to be."

Korra smiled down at her, giving her hand a squeeze. "Of course I do. You're my friend after all." Asami's face crumpled into an almost hurt expression.

"Is that all we are?" Asami muttered still clutching her hand. Korra gave her a confused look as she gently pulled her hand out of her hand.

"Yeah. What else would we be?" Korra gave an awkward laugh as she removed her hand from Asami's, removing the warm cloth from her forehead. Korra rewet the rag, wringing it out and placing it back on Asami's forehead.

"More. I want us to be more." Asami husked as she grabbed at Korra's, clutching it against her chest. "Can we please be more?" Korra's lips pulled into a tight line as she furrowed her brows. "Please?"

Korra pulled her hand from Asami's and moved to pull the thin cotton sheets up over her chest. She gently tucked Asami in bed, brushing her hair behind her ears, "I think maybe you should get some rest."

Asami frowns as Korra moves to sit on the chair off to the side. "I don't want to sleep, Korra."

"Please try anyways." Korra sighed, slumping back in the chair, "You need rest."

Asami let her eyes drift closed, "Okay. I'll try."

Korra watched as Asami slowly fell into a light sleep, Korra letting out a sigh of relief. All the tension slowly leaving her shoulders. She watched Asami, her eyes drifted closed as well. ' _A nap wouldn't hurt, would it?'_ Korra let out a yawn as she leaned further back into the chair, sleep claiming her as well.

Korra was jerked back into consciousness by the sound of a thud echoing through the room. She shot up to see that Asami had fallen out of her bed, knocking over the pot. "Shit, Asami! Are you okay!?" Korra pushed herself up moving to kneel next to Asami, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine. I just-" Asami sputtered pushing herself to her feet, "Bathroom." Asami looked up at Korra, tears in her eyes, "I just need to use the bathroom."

Korra gentle quickly cupped her face, brushing the tears from her eyes. "Hey, Hey. No crying. I'll help you to the bathroom." Korra helped Asami to her feet, who leaned against her. They began moving as Korra continued talking, "How does a bath sound? It might help bring that fever down."

"A bath sounds nice," Asami muttered as they moved toward the bathroom at the other end of the room. Korra kicked the bathroom door open, finding herself slightly taken aback by just how big it was. She pushed the feeling down and moved in further, taking in the bathroom. "I can walk now," Asami spoke and Korra glanced over at her, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"Are you sure?"

Asami nodded, pulling away from Korra and moving toward the small room where the toilet was located, "Yeah." She paused in the doorway, glancing over her shoulder, "Could you start the bath for me?"

Korra nodded, giving her a reassuring smile, "Yeah. Of course." Korra watched as she closed the door behind her. Korra sat on the edge of the tub, turning on the water and running her fingers under it. She adjusted it until the water faucet was spitting out was at the right temperature. Putting the stopper in the drain, the door to the bathroom opened and Korra's eyes were unconsciously drawn towards it only for her to immediately look back toward the ground, her face flushing red. Korra stared at the ground as a hand grabbed her shoulder, pushing down as Asami used her for support.

"Sorry." Asami murmured as she stepped into the water, letting out a shocked sound, "It's not hot." She glanced at Korra who refused to look up at her instead, keeping her eyes locked on the ground.

"Yeah. Hot water would only make your fever worse." Korra clarified and Asami let out a hum in response.

"You can leave now if you want. I think I can manage to turn the water off on my own." Asami said and Korra glanced at her, looking her directly in the eyes.

"I'd rather not leave you alone." Korra smiled, turning her head so she was staring at the wall.

"You seem a little uncomfortable. I can handle myself." She placed a hand on Korra's knee, wetting the fabric as she did so. Asami turned to look at her only to jerk her head back toward the wall.

"Sorry!" Korra yelped, covering her eyes with her hand. "If you really feel like you can manage I'll go make dinner or something." She pushed herself to her feet and moved toward the door. "Don't stay in too long, okay?" Korra muttered refusing to look at Asami but placing a hand on the door frame.

"Okay, I won't," Asami responded and Korra quickly exited the room, closing the door behind her. She leaned against the door letting out a heavy sigh as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Okay," Korra pushed herself off the door, clasping her hands together, "Food."

* * *

Asami listened to the sound of Korra's retreating footsteps until she couldn't hear them anymore. She leaned forward, turning off the water before leaning back and sliding down in the tub until she was up to her nose in the water. She closed her eyes, dunking her head under the water completely. She opened her eyes, looking up at the ceiling through the water before rising up out of the water. Asami ran her hands over her face, letting out a breath. The lukewarm water felt good on her body and she really didn't want to get out but knew she should.

Asami leaned forward, pulling up the stopper and watched as the water swirl down the drain. She let out a breath as she pushed herself to her feet, slipping slightly and barely catching herself on the side. She gingerly took a seat on the side of the tub letting out a weak laugh, "That was close."

She slowly turned around, her whole body protesting the movement as she did so. Asami dragged her eyes over the room until they landed on her robe where it hung across the room. All she had to do was get from point A to point B which was a lot easier said than done. She looked down at her unsteady legs before pushing herself to her feet and moving toward her robe. By some miracle, she managed to not trip on her own feet and managed to grab the soft white robe from its hook. She wrapped it around her body tight only to find that it felt much too hot on her body and decided to leave it open as she made her way toward her bedroom.  
Asami collapsed onto her bed and contemplated just staying put but the thought of dinner was too tempting to let go to waste. She pushed herself to her feet, shedding the robe and moved toward the dresser. Pulling open the top drawer, she shifted through the clothing until she found what she was after. A pair of thin cotton Pajamas. The bottoms were shorts that stopped just below her crotch and had a floral pattern while the top simply a black top that said 'I'm not bossy. I'm the boss,' Pulling on both items on she made her way downstairs the smell of something truly heavenly.

She made her way toward the kitchen where she saw the back of Korra as she moved about the kitchen. Asami took a seat at the counter, leaning on her arms, "Hey Korra."

Korra whirled around fixing Asami with a look and pointed a ladle at her and said in a chiding tone, " _You_ should be in bed."

"But I feel better and I want food." Asami fake whined leaning her head on her arms.

Korra crossed her arms over her chest, "I would have brought it up to you." Korra turned around so she was facing the stove.

Asami chuckled, "Well isn't that nice of you. My own personal caretaker."

"Well, I couldn't rightly let you die now, could I?" Korra said as she waved her hand in the air, "I mean, you're like one of my only friends. Not sure if Mako and Bolin count but I'm just gonna go ahead and say they do."

"Well, I'm honored to be considered one of your only friends," Asami muttered as she ran a hand through her hair, "Speaking of how many friends _do_ you have?"

Korra turned to look at Asami, placing a finger on her chin, "Four if you count Mako and Bolin, which I am."

"I am truly honored to be part of such an exclusive group," Asami said as she pushed herself upright.

Korra laughed as she returned to stirring whatever was in front of her, "Yeah, I guess it is a little exclusive."

Gingerly Asami pushed herself to her feet, "I think I'll go sit in the living room. Bring me my food there?"

"Of course." Korra flashed her a smile, "I'll bring it to you once it's done." Asami gave Korra another smile before heading toward the living room where she collapsed into an overstuffed armchair. Curling her legs as she leaned back letting out a satisfied sigh as she did so. The smell of food permeating the apartment as she let her eyes drift closed.

"Hey, 'Sami?" Asami opened her eyes and looked up at Korra who was leaning over her, a concerned look on her face, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just resting." Asami smiled up at Korra who seemed to relax slightly before another frown crossed her face.

"Lemme just," She placed a hand over Asami's forehead letting out a concerned 'hmm'. "You still have a fever but it's a lot better than it was." She removed her hand from her head standing up straight, "Do you have any, uh, tv trays?"

Asami pointed at the corner where they were located, "Over there." Korra nodded, moving to retrieve two trays from the rack. She placed one in front of Asami and another in front of the couch before moving back toward the kitchen. Asami adjusted her position so that she was sitting criss-cross on the chair as Korra came in holding two bowls. She set one down in front of Asami and then in front of the couch before pulling out two spoons from her pocket. She handed one of the spoons to Asami before taking her seat on the couch. "Dinner is served."

"It looks delicious," Asami said as she looked into the bowl to see it was full of homemade chicken soup. "And I bet it tastes delicious too." Asami picked up her spoon and scooped some into her mouth. "Oh! Ah! Hot!" Asami cried dropping her spoon and waving her hand in front of her mouth.

"Oh yeah, you might want to wait for it to cool down a bit," Korra laughed as she stirred her bowl of soup. Asami gently blew on her bowl before spooning more into her mouth.

She looked up at Korra, "Is everything you make this good?" Korra laughed shaking her head as she ate a spoonful of soup.

"It's not that good." Korra shook her head as she avoided eye contact.

"Yes, it is. You could be a chef if you wanted." Asami insisted, leaning forward slightly.

"You may think so but it wouldn't be special if I just cooked for anyone, now would it?" Korra gave a half-hearted laugh smiling at Asami.

"No, I guess it wouldn't." The pair lapsed into silence after that as they continued to eat their soup. Once Asami finished her soup she leaned back letting out a satisfied sigh, "That was delicious."

"There's more in the kitchen if you want." Korra offered and Asami simply shook her hand.

"I think I'm good for now." Asami placed her hands in her lap, glancing at Korra who had settled into the couch. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"I told you I was worried."

"I know but like _why_ are you here? Why were you worried?" Asami pressed and watched as Korra rubbed the back of her neck, laughing awkwardly.

"I just got a bad feeling is all." Korra pushed herself to her feet, grabbing her bowl, "Figured I'd check up on you."

Asami quirked a brow at Korra as she grabbed her bowl from in front of her. Asami was pretty sure Korra was lying to some degree while also telling the truth. She watched as Korra disappeared into the kitchen leaving Asami alone with her thoughts. She felt better and figured after a good night's rest she should be able to go back into work.

"I can see what your thinking and, no, you can't go into work tomorrow." Korra gave Asami a withering look and Asami flashed her a weak smile.

"But I feel a lot better, Korra." Asami fake whined as she leaned forward slightly. Korra crossed her arms over her chest, fixing Asami with a hard stare.

"Just 'cause you feel better doesn't mean you are better. You need a few more days of rest."

"Korra," Asami whined, dragging out the end of Korra's name, "If I don't go back to work I'll fall behind. I'm the CEO for spirit's sake."

"You need rest, Asami. You can take a few days off to get better." Korra stood up and moved to sit on the arm of the armchair, taking Asami's hand in hers, "You'll be more productive if you wait to go back once your fever is completely gone."

"I know but-"

"Asami," Korra cut Asami off giving her hand a light squeeze, "If you won't do it for yourself will you at least do it for me?" Asami looked into Korra's pleading eyes and let out a heavy sigh.

"Okay, I'll wait," Asami muttered giving Korra's hand a squeeze back.

Korra smiled pulling her hand from Asami's, "Good. Now," She pushed herself back to her feet, "How does dessert sound?"

"You made dessert?" Asami exclaimed, leaning on the arm of the chair.

"Not yet but I'm sure I could whip something up real fast," Korra said as she moved toward the kitchen.

"Is there anything you can't do?" Asami laughed, propping her elbow up on the chair her head on her hand.

"Nope. I'm just about perfect." Korra called from the kitchen, a laugh in her voice. Asami curled her legs into her body letting herself relax. She could rest for a few days if it made Korra happy. She could catch up on work later but right now she just wanted to enjoy spending time with Korra.


End file.
